[Sorry, it still won't work; you haven't convinced me. Although everything you said is very tempting, compared to the risks I'm currently facing, the potential return is not proportional.]
A moment later, Alain looked at the message on the email and fell into deep thought.
Just now, he had tried every argument, good and bad. He had listed everything from the benefits of cooperation between the two parties to what they could achieve in the future.
But Monika was like an indestructible stone. No matter how much water Alain poured, not a drop seeped in, let alone eliciting a shred of agreement.
He lamented that she lived up to her reputation as Monika; indeed, she wasn't so easily swayed.
"Alain, why don't you try to fish for some useful information instead?" Beside him, Mila couldn't stand watching anymore, increasingly realizing the sheer 'fixation' of Monika's consciousness.
Although they had long anticipated that Monika was a person with strong opinions, completely guided by her own thoughts, seeing it in action was another matter. It seemed that Alain wouldn't be able to persuade her anytime soon, so it would be better to start from other aspects.
"Alright." Alain was helpless. Anyway, his main goal in finding Monika this time wasn't to seek cooperation, but to obtain information.
Information regarding the Unknown Port.
He organized his words for two seconds, then sent her the following message:
[Then, let's not talk about this for now. I want to know some information from you, and I hope you can answer using terms that "even a fool can understand."]
The email side pondered for a while, taking a full minute before answering with a single "Mn."
Alain breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Monika indeed wanted to help him, but she faced immense risks on her side. One careless move, and she could very likely be discovered by that immediate superior.
However, when it came time to actually learn the information, Alain's typing hand hesitated.
On Monika's side, she was bound to be restricted by certain permissions, unable to tell him too much news.
Moreover, many of the "technical terms" on Alain's side, such as [Unknown Port], [Superior], and [Mist Entity, Corrosive Entity, and other viruses], Monika definitely wouldn't understand.
Fortunately, the thing he wanted to clarify was also very simple:
[Do you know the Safety Guard?] He clicked send.
The current system is called the [Safety Assistant]. The previous generation system, however, was called the [Safety Guard].
The system iteration was completed through the joint efforts of 2D Mita, Misha, Short-Haired Mita, and others.
Regarding this matter, 2D Mita used a method of obscuring audio and visuals to send fake system operation logs to the Unknown Port, so the Unknown Port was not made aware of it.
So, if Monika knew he possessed a system, her information must still be stuck in the [Safety Guard] era.
Soon, a vibration drifted from Alain's phone, attracting the attention of the three.
Monika's reply was very brief, just a single word, yet it said everything Alain wanted to know:
[Mn]
As expected. Monika knew about the Safety Guard, and was very likely associated with the Safety Guard attaching to him, and even Alain's arrival in the Game World.
He pondered for a while, recalling that he had once seen a pitch-black female silhouette back in Version 1.3B.
Alain continued sending messages: [Our first meeting should have been at the Safety Guard, right?]
[Mn]
Another simple utterance from her. At this moment, Alain could almost confirm the fact that Monika was the Unknown Port.
Then, many things made sense.
During the Version 1.3B era, when Alain entered the Black Water to search for the Parasitic Entity, he had originally braced himself to lose one "720 Cloud Recovery" resurrection chance.
But afterwards, the opportunity for Cloud Recovery remained, and it still existed within Alain's body to this day.
Presumably, it was Monika who had opened a backdoor for him at that time.
But there was still a contradiction that puzzled Alain: the matter of the Mist Entity.
The Mist Entity was simply a virus custom-made for Alain's Safety [Guard], perfectly countering his [Intranet Firewall] skill.
At the same time, Monika had once hoped he would skip Version 1.0F entirely and head straight for the Core without delay.
Adding these two things together, the contradiction was: the Mist Entity, a virus custom-made for Alain, was also an obstacle hindering his progress. Monika should have no reason to create it.
And Monika, who was related to the Safety Guard and also had a bad relationship with the Mastermind behind the scenes, shouldn't have produced the Mist Entity virus either.
Alain faintly felt he had overlooked something. Just then, Monika's message came again.
[Seeing you haven't replied for a long time, presumably there are no more questions? Consider yourself lucky; these two questions just happened to fall within my permissions.]
[If there's nothing else, then let's try to minimize our communication, shall we? After I've thought it over, I'll contact you via email to discuss.]
Alain looked at her reply. Clearly, rationally speaking, Monika's proposal was the optimal choice for both sides.
It could maintain Monika's potential identity as an ally, while also protecting her safety with the Mastermind.
However, there was one thing that made Alain very unhappy:
The initiative had returned to Monika's hands.
Admittedly, Monika possessed a certain possibility of being an ally, but she also had the possibility of being an enemy.
Even if she hadn't slaughtered the Mitas in order to maintain her "neutral" camp, and could even be said to be gentle...
Yet Alain still couldn't set his mind at ease.
Because Monika simply knew too much.
Currently, Alain's system information and the enemy's information were all in Monika's hands.
The terror of this mysterious young girl, if not controlled by the Mastermind's permissions... as a true enemy, she would presumably be very tricky to deal with.
Therefore, Alain wanted to seize the initiative from her—an initiative that was not easy to obtain.
He finished typing and clicked send.
[If possible, I still hope you continue to chat with me about cooperation.]
Monika was a girl with an extremely high desire for control; snatching the initiative from her wouldn't be easy.
But Alain's continued persistence in the face of rejection was not without purpose.
He felt that he seemed to have grasped a key clue, yet it was always intentionally or unintentionally ignored. That indescribable sense of dissonance filled his heart, making him very uncomfortable.
But he could vaguely perceive that if Monika agreed to continue discussing cooperation, Alain would be able to understand—what exactly the jigsaw puzzle he had lost was—
What exactly was the source of that dissonance.
[You really won't give up, will you? Could it be that you've fallen for me?] Monika's tone was helpless.
The next moment, a new message arrived.
[Forget it, I'm quite happy to chat with you. I happen to have time right now, so I'll give you another chance to convince me.]
[Good luck.]
Alain gazed at these strings of words, his eyes glazing over.
The two girls sitting beside him saw Alain in this state and tacitly did not speak. Likewise, they silently mouthed the phrase to Alain: "Good luck."
Alain naturally didn't have the ability to listen in all directions. Just as he had thought earlier, as long as Monika continued to send messages, he would know the source of his dissonance.
Now, he understood the source!
Beep.
Alain clicked send. And the message sent contained only a single sentence—yet it caused Monika to not reply for a long time.
His gaze focused on the sentence he had just sent, secretly saying "As expected."
[If you don't agree to cooperate with me, I will immediately perform a Leap of Faith from the top floor.]
This was by no means Alain being pestering, nor was he throwing a childish tantrum.
Because he understood the source of his dissonance—it was that Monika tirelessly listened to his repeated invitations for cooperation.
Based on Alain's understanding of Monika, every sentence of hers must have a deep purpose.
Because she didn't speak much, and her authority wasn't high, she had to be this way.
For example, those two "Mn"s just now, and the "shortcut" remarks. For example, the "mastermind" information she intentionally provided.
She was a very efficient girl. She had her own opinions.
If Monika really had no intention of cooperating with Alain right now, she could just not reply or block him.
Wait until she wanted to cooperate, then pull Alain out of the blacklist for further discussion. For the sake of everyone, Alain definitely couldn't refuse.
But she was still listening to Alain's sentence-by-sentence invitations.
He seemed to see Monika on the other side of the screen fiddling with a set of scales:
Time and again, she placed Alain's words of bargaining chips on the left side of the scale, and her own safety on the right side, comparing them.
Thereby weighing whether to cooperate.
Monika was waiting, waiting for Alain to speak the words that would tip the scales to the left, to convince her.
And what Alain had to do was provide that bargaining chip, and that would be enough.
[What does your death have to do with me? Don't think too highly of yourself.]
Her reply came, and Alain actually laughed twice.
It's in the bag.
His fingertips tapped da-da-da to send. [If I'm not guessing wrong, I should be a key link in your plan, right?]
[If not for me—without me, this harem protagonist, this Mita Incubus, I am certain you could not possibly obtain the Mitas' help.]
[They can't see that you once helped me; they only see the current status of you harming the Game World and eroding the versions.]
[And you, your authority with the Mastermind isn't high. Although these words are a bit harsh... but:]
[On your own, you can't do anything.]
[No matter what intelligence you have, even if you know the past and present or predict the future, you are just a tool and pawn of the Mastermind.]
[When the Mita World is completely eroded, you'll be like a disposable tool, perhaps placed into some immoral project to continue harming a region.]
[Cyclical, nothing changes. Again and again, until the Mastermind's lifespan reaches its end.]
[How pitiful, living under the shadow of someone else's life...]
[I'm not wrong, am I?]
[Miss Monika who can't do anything alone. Or should I say—]
[Miss Puppet.]
___
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