Chapter 5 : Unexpected Encounter
The Jujutsu world.
The train station announcement echoes repeatedly. Jiang Lai pulls his suitcase with one hand as he walks out, still wearing a slight smile on his face.
He just finished reading the first chapter update on the train before arriving at the station, and also roughly browsed through the forum. He's very satisfied with the atmospheric presentation in the images.
Very good, the dark filter is performing stably! Give the dark filter comrade a red envelope!
Regardless of how everyone speculates about himself in the first chapter, at least the initial sense of mystery and storytelling has been established. Jiang Lai mentally checks this off. With a basic framework, it'll be convenient for him to fill in content later.
Unfortunately, this first chapter update didn't include his part at the train station. Jiang Lai sighs with some regret.
He was looking forward to seeing Mahito's plot drawn out, to see what Mahito was really thinking when he was staring at him intently, and the accurate usage of the feather necklace.
The latter part of the manga came to Tokyo Jujutsu High, where the appearing first-year students Itadori Yuji and his classmates clarified the timeline of this new series.
But the new series is different from the original work. Jiang Lai pauses, thinking.
The original work had the tragic Shibuya Incident in the autumn after Itadori enrolled, then massive casualties with deaths and injuries.
But now it's already winter, and everything seems very peaceful, as if that major event from the original work didn't happen.
Could it be because Itadori was too tragic in the original, so the new series mysteriously gave him a relatively peaceful first-year life?
That's good, hopefully it's not the villains brewing an even bigger trouble later. Jiang Lai silently prays in his heart.
Speaking of which, since events have changed in the new series, character fates will also change, right? For example, Geto Suguru... is he still alive? If he's still alive, which faction is he on?
Currently known information is too limited, Jiang Lai cannot make specific judgments. He can only wait for himself to explore deeper in this world, and for manga updates to reveal intelligence.
Don't know when the next update will be.
…
Walking out of the train station following the signage, Jiang Lai finds a nearby inn and decides to rest here temporarily for the night, then look for a suitable house to rent tomorrow.
After completing the check-in procedures and simply organizing his suitcase, Jiang Lai chooses to go out for food.
After a day of travel, and experiencing the excitement of crossing world barriers and encountering a special grade cursed spirit at the station, he's already extremely hungry. Now that he's escaped danger and set aside his thoughts, the suppressed hunger surges back up.
Jiang Lai opens his phone, preparing to search for nearby restaurants, but the pop-up new message notification first catches his attention.
Matsuda Jinpei, Morofushi Hiromitsu, and Kurosawa Akira have all sent him several messages, the latest one being:
[#Morofushi Hiromitsu#: Not sure if it's convenient on your end, just in case, we won't actively call you. If you see this message, please reply.]
"..." Matsuda went home? Looks like he's already explained the situation to them.
Jiang Lai blinks, kicks out of his mind the image of everyone sitting together watching manga like relatives during New Year watching some kid's performance video, then edits a message and sends it uniformly to Morofushi Hiromitsu, Kurosawa Akira, and Matsuda Jinpei.
[#Jiang Lai#: Good, I'm fine now. How about we chat directly in the group?]
Sending messages one by one isn't as good as gathering together to chat. When Jiang Lai was still in the Detective Conan world, they had a shared group chat.
At this moment, he logs back into that app, waiting for everyone's avatars to light up, while casually glancing at his friends' recent usernames.
Kurosawa Akira: #Akira Doing Serious Research#
Morofushi Hiromitsu: #Big Cat's Whiskers#
Matsuda Jinpei: #Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#
Jiang Lai smiles nostalgically, also changing his own name from "Jiang Lucky Koi Lai" to "Good Luck Lai Coming."
Seeing the avatars light up one by one, he sends an emoji in the group chat.
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: (stick figure dog spinning hula hoop.gif)]
[#Akira Doing Serious Research#: Did you really cross into the manga, Brother Jiang Lai? Are you okay now? PS: If so, Brother Jiang Lai in the manga is also very handsome]
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: Really crossed over, the manga is me. I'm fine now, about to go eat hehe. Thanks Akira for the special compliment www]
[#Big Cat's Whiskers#: ...Didn't expect this kind of thing to happen, we initially thought Matsuda was joking with us.]
[#Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#: How could I joke about something like this! What's even worse is, after I got home, they actually went to search my car, seriously concluding 'no suspicion of hiding corpses in the trunk then murder and body disposal, based on scene traces, this is suspected to be an acquaintance kidnapping incident'???]
Seeing this part, Jiang Lai can't help but laugh out loud.
[#Big Cat's Whiskers#: Cough, very sorry, we thought you and Jiang Lai wanted to play detective games with us or something...]
[#Akira Doing Serious Research#: So we cooperated with the investigation and speculation. PS: Actually, we were also thinking about analyzing where you kidnapped the person... sorry.]
[#Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#: (closed-eye cat scratching wall, then flatline heart rate, dead.gif)]
The relaxed atmosphere conveys warmth through the screen, dispelling the last trace of tension remaining in Jiang Lai's heart, making him unconsciously curve his lips.
Then, the group topic changes, with Kurosawa Akira expressing concern:
[#Akira Doing Serious Research#: Don't worry, Brother Jiang Lai, tomorrow we'll try to find the manga author, reason with them emotionally, see if we can pay a high price to modify some content. Our research institute's funding is still quite abundant.]
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: ...Thanks, Akira, but no need. My crossing is due to the ineffable world will's influence, so you probably can't contact the manga author for direct interference either.]
When learning that the manga was serialized in the Detective Conan world, Jiang Lai fantasized for a second about asking his Detective Conan friends to find the one-eyed cat comrade, then use the author's will to influence the new series Jujutsu world situation.
However, this idea was overturned after a few seconds, because this would produce various uncontrollable consequences, or disrupt the original world order, so the world will would definitely interfere with this contact.
Just like when he crossed to the Detective Conan world, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't contact the embassy.
However, although there's no shortcut to quick completion, it's still feasible to add skills and improve himself during this process to reduce danger levels.
Friends in the Detective Conan world naturally thought of this point too.
[#Big Cat's Whiskers#: You mean direct interference isn't possible? These few days we'll try to make contact, if not, we can try changing to helping from the sidelines.]
[#Big Cat's Whiskers#: If there's any situation here, we'll contact you anytime. Even if we're not in the same world, we'll accompany you through the journey (smile) so don't worry.]
Although they haven't had much contact with these things before, they've already started researching forums, manga promotion, merchandise, popularity voting, and such things.
Friends in the group are now discussing how to push manga Jiang Lai to become a high-popularity character.
Jiang Lai: Thanks for the invitation, but popular characters in Jujutsu seem to die too. ;D
Jujutsu Kaisen, a world that distributes lunch boxes regardless of enemy or ally, popularity level, focused on spilling hot blood (noun)!
So what Jiang Lai pursues isn't just popularity, but more importantly, using world will and forum influence to enhance his own abilities, becoming a boss from zero, striving to clear this difficult-level world.
[#Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#: Speaking of which, after the first chapter update, do you have any special feelings, Jiang Lai?]
Special feelings? Jiang Lai blinks.
[#Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#: Like suddenly enlightened awakening Limitless, heaven-sent heterochromia awakening Six Eyes?]
"?" Jiang Lai is stunned for a second, somewhat helplessly replying.
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: How could that be, that's too exaggerated!! This is just the beginning.]
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: And I'm body-crossed, after all I'm not from the Gojo family, no blood connection, no inheritance, I shouldn't awaken Six Eyes and Limitless out of thin air, right?]
Ability enhancement under forum influence must be reasonable, arising from his own foundation.
When Jiang Lai chose to shout out the fake name line [Gojo Lai], his purpose was for the opening's eye-catching appeal, not aiming for abilities.
Morofushi Hiromitsu and Kurosawa Akira didn't speak, they don't understand Jujutsu much, currently urgently catching up on the series.
After Matsuda Jinpei thought for a moment, he typed in the group again:
[#Sunglasses Working Overtime Again#: But... is there a possibility, I mean possibility, that you could have an ability similar to Limitless, but actually not Limitless, but others think it's Limitless?]
Jiang Lai: ?
The tongue twister matryoshka appeared!!
After his thinking got stuck for a few seconds, Jiang Lai vaguely understood Matsuda Jinpei's meaning.
His true body isn't from the Gojo family, can't inherit techniques, and doesn't have Six Eyes.
But if the forum thinks he knows a [Limitless] that [doesn't need Six Eyes] to precisely control and use, then this forum influence enhancement might take a different form and become his ability.
He might be able to obtain a technique similar to but essentially not Limitless, perfect!
Jiang Lai suddenly sees the light, as if opening the door to a new world.
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: Maybe it's possible! But currently I don't feel any changes, probably the guidance isn't enough, if I continue along this path later, maybe I can have a technique similar to Limitless as you said.]
In this high-danger world, combat power is naturally very important.
Current Jiang Lai, although able to see cursed spirits and possessing a feather necklace that can switch states, is essentially still an "ordinary person" who just crossed over from the Detective Conan world, currently temporarily without freely usable techniques, and doesn't know how to manipulate cursed energy.
Jiang Lai (hands clasped together): Dark filter push performance, next manga update continue working hard, strive to obtain skills matching the mysterious aura as soon as possible!
After chatting briefly, they start reminding Jiang Lai to go eat dinner, the group still remembers what Jiang Lai said at the beginning about preparing to go eat.
[#Good Luck Lai Coming#: Right away, going to eat now (square cake dog running.jpg)]
After sending the last message, Jiang Lai exits the group chat, searches nearby restaurants, selects a sukiyaki pot restaurant suitable for winter feasting, preparing to go there following navigation guidance.
Winter wind is bone-piercing cold, snowflakes unknowingly start falling from the sky, snow melting into water on the ground, then forming a thin layer of ice under nighttime low temperatures.
Surrounding pedestrians wrap their clothes tighter, quickening their walking pace.
Jiang Lai holds his phone with one hand, shaking off the fallen snowflakes, his gaze fixed on the screen, planning to quickly memorize the remaining navigation route in his mind, then put his hand in his coat pocket to warm up...
"Ah ah careful, sorry!"
The panicked shouting voice drifts from far to near. Jiang Lai's peripheral vision glimpses an uncontrolled sliding figure, he reflexively dodges at incredible speed with lightning reflexes.
Thanks to the gunfire training in the Detective Conan world, giving him quick evasion abilities!
He even stabilizes his form, then smoothly helps the person beside him who's about to fall.
The figure he grabbed staggers a few times, finally steadying himself without falling to the ground with a thump.
"Whew, sorry sir, just slipped on this downhill section, if I scared you I'm really very sorry." That person speaks sincerely, eyes sparkling like some cute little beast, "Thanks for catching me." He scratches his head and smiles.
The energetic pink hedgehog-haired youth in front of him has two shallow crescent marks under his eyes different from ordinary people.
It's Itadori Yuji! Jiang Lai naturally recognizes him at a glance. The protagonist of "Jujutsu Kaisen," Gojo Satoru's student, the vessel of the Curse King Ryomen Sukuna.
Didn't expect to meet him here by accident.
Jiang Lai is slightly surprised in his heart, but doesn't show anything on his face, just smiles warmly as usual, his voice gentle: "No problem. Snowy roads are slippery, watch your step."
He releases his hand supporting the other person, while unconsciously thinking: The other person looks like he was chasing urgently, so he accidentally slipped... chasing a cursed spirit? Mission or field training?
Jiang Lai was looking down at his phone just now, and didn't notice if anything passed by nearby.
"Hey, Itadori! I told you running that fast would make you slip!"
"Did you catch it?"
Two voices sound from not far away, a short orange-brown haired girl and a black sea urchin-haired boy in matching uniforms walk over from there, Itadori Yuji's teammates, Kugisaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi.
The three of them are classmates, appearing here together is perfectly normal. Looks like a group mission or training.
Jiang Lai thinks casually, but suddenly a thought flashes through his mind:
...Wait, since it looks like group activity, their teacher, Gojo Satoru wouldn't also be nearby, would he?