Chapter 107 : Jiang Lai - The Real Deal is Still Right Here
The flow of people walking around continued as usual, with vehicles occasionally passing by on the street.
Nanami Kento gripped his cursed tool-wrapped blunt sword without hesitation. This very obvious posture, however, didn't attract the attention of the pedestrians walking nearby.
This behavior also made everyone somewhat aware of some characteristics of this domain.
It was somewhat similar to an illusion construct, exquisitely replicating the surrounding environment from not long ago.
Because of this, having just finished training and being mentally relaxed, they hadn't noticed the enemy's covert setup at first.
In this situation, attacking the ordinary people constructed by the surrounding illusion wouldn't have much meaning. They were false images woven by the domain, and the key to breaking the situation wasn't here.
And if they accidentally attacked real ordinary people, that would be truly troublesome.
So it was better to ignore the surrounding crowd for now and focus on finding their companions and the caster.
Fushiguro Megumi made hand gestures to summon his Divine Dog "Totality." The majestic black and white large dog appeared, but instead of scouting ahead, it guarded beside Little Sheep Jiang Lai.
"I'm fine, you don't need to specifically protect me." Little Sheep Jiang Lai looked up slightly, blinking his eyes and waving the phone in his hand. "I also have electronic spirits similar to your shikigami!"
"It's different. Conserve your cursed energy for now." Fushiguro Megumi was very calm. "Stay by my side, don't go too far."
Jiang Lai knew the reason for his concern.
His [Electronic Spirits] and Fushiguro Megumi's [Ten Shadows Technique] could both be considered summoning types, but identical or similar techniques didn't have the same power.
For example, the shikigami Fushiguro Megumi summoned were different from what Ryomen Sukuna summoned after occupying his body in the original work. Similarly, with construction techniques, Yorozu in the Culling Game was much more capable than Zenin Mai.
Jiang Lai thought.
Fushiguro Megumi believed he was relatively young and had only recently awakened his technique, so his abilities were insufficient. Therefore, he wanted him to conserve cursed energy and stay close by.
But actually, his real strength wasn't weak, because he could tap into his main body's cursed energy reserves, plus after this period of exploration, he had become quite familiar with the new technique.
However, to avoid drawing too much attention, he temporarily hadn't displayed his full strength.
From the current situation, there was no danger yet, so he'd wait for now. Jiang Lai's gaze swept around. Concealing his wings could also mislead the enemy behind them.
So Little Sheep Jiang Lai made a pouty face and muttered: "Fine, then I won't make a move for now."
After a second, he smiled slyly, moving closer with great energy: "If you need help later, just say so. This time it's a free trial, but next time help me pull in some customers, and you'll all get a super amazing 2% discount!"
"......Is 2% off really considered super amazing?" Fushiguro Megumi couldn't help but comment, then glanced over. "Is this a bodyguard service?"
"I do everything, welcome to patronize." Little Sheep Jiang Lai gave a thumbs up. "I'm an all-around little genius!"
Their conversation didn't continue, as Nanami Kento ahead suddenly stopped, his expression becoming even more serious.
He held his cursed tool-wrapped blunt sword horizontally in front of him, and a standing figure appeared not far away.
Jiang Lai looked up, and the moment that figure entered his field of vision, his heart inevitably froze in shock.
Light brown hair, reddish-brown eyes, a somewhat shy smile... wasn't this Yuikawa Kurisu?! How did this unlucky thing appear again?!
But after the second playthrough restart, the malicious Yuikawa Kurisu had been taken down early by the prepared Gojo Satoru. Jiang Lai then recalled the description in the manga.
After Gojo recorded Yuikawa Kurisu's dark operations in private and showed them to Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu, he used sealing cursed tools to lock Yuikawa away.
Jiang Lai trusted the second playthrough Gojo Satoru's handling. Logically, Yuikawa Kurisu couldn't possibly have a chance to escape from the seal. And even if he could escape, it would be impossible for him to appear here so coincidentally and directly.
After calmly analyzing in his heart, Jiang Lai looked carefully and noticed that the figure ahead had a rather young appearance, looking like he did during his technical college days.
Rather than truly existing, it was more like a shadow from memories.
That figure of 'Yuikawa Kurisu' smiled, his downturned eyes curving slightly as he waved: "Nanami!"
Jiang Lai's gaze fell on Nanami Kento diagonally ahead, observing his profile.
Back then, Yuikawa Kurisu had been Nanami Kento's classmate. The very good actor Yuikawa got along well with Nanami and Haibara, neither of them knowing that the brown-haired boy secretly took pleasure in their company.
After Gojo Satoru later exposed the truth, Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu must have spent time accepting the reality. After all, he had been a companion they lived with day and night.
He wondered what the other's reaction was now seeing Yuikawa Kurisu. Or perhaps this domain illusion was created based on deeply impressive parts of memories, projecting them to confuse others' minds and bodies.
Nanami Kento still had a tense face. He tugged at his tie, saying calmly: "You two don't need to come forward. Leave it to me. Fushiguro-kun, please protect Watanabe."
"Alright." Fushiguro Megumi responded in a low voice. He and the summoned Divine Dog Totality guarded the rear together.
Nanami Kento wouldn't be misled by projections. Though he inevitably had some emotional fluctuation, he quickly calmed down.
Rather than dwelling on the past in a complex way, what rose in his heart was more of a burning, cold anger toward the caster who dared touch his memories, and toward what Yuikawa Kurisu himself had done back then.
If the intention was to slow down his movements through this projection, that was impossible!
Nanami Kento expressionlessly swung his cursed tool-wrapped blunt sword, his form rapidly advancing.
Jiang Lai stood steadily at the rear. He wasn't worried about the caster sensing anything from his memories.
First, techniques that completely pried into memories were too rule-breaking; world consciousness balance wouldn't allow such techniques to exist. Second, everyone's memories were incredibly long. Even if the caster could sense some, they wouldn't have time to read through them all.
Therefore, this projection creation was most likely the technique automatically randomly selecting a figure from the target's emotional fluctuations after activation, then projecting it.
No matter what, Jiang Lai trusted that Phone-kun and world will wouldn't let his secrets be exposed. At most, only some memory projection characters belonging specifically to the [Watanabe Mirai] identity would be revealed.
Nanami Kento had already advanced with his weapon, but that light brown-haired figure didn't make any counterattack moves. He still stood there with a shy posture, looking somewhat surprised, his downturned eyes lifting slightly to appear innocent.
It seemed this illusion projection couldn't mimic techniques? Or could use some but wasn't using them for some purpose at the moment?
Jiang Lai subconsciously analyzed in his mind, his gaze falling on the figure of 'Yuikawa Kurisu' ahead, always feeling things weren't that simple.
Since it wasn't fighting back and had no other confusing verbal actions, what exactly was this projection for?
Nanami Kento unhesitatingly slashed horizontally with his weapon, the cursed energy-wrapped blunt sword cutting it in two. In the next second, the space there suddenly twisted, like tearing through wallpaper to reveal the cavern behind, then abruptly contracted and changed!
The changing space separated the two groups. In a breath, the environment around Fushiguro Megumi and Little Sheep Jiang Lai transformed, no longer the previous urban street!
Now, the surrounding environment had become a forest with densely interwoven trees. They were in a moonlit forest.
Fushiguro Megumi: "?!"
His heart jumped in alarm, warily narrowing his blue-green eyes.
The blonde adult figure that had been not far ahead was now nowhere to be seen.
This seemed to be the intentional work of this illusory domain, separating them by twisting space after isolating them.
But they couldn't hesitate to attack just because of this.
Not only did Jiang Lai understand this analysis in his heart, Fushiguro Megumi also quickly figured it out.
He pressed his lips together, reaching out to pull Little Sheep Jiang Lai closer again: "It deliberately separated us, don't go too far from me." After half a second, he added: "......Don't be afraid either."
"I'm not afraid." Little Sheep Jiang Lai showed a mischievous smile.
He wasn't afraid of this, nor worried about being separated. Actually, he was also considering whether to pretend to be separated.
Because after separation, it would be more advantageous for him to display his abilities without concealment and break the situation from the side.
With these thoughts flowing through his heart, Little Sheep Jiang Lai didn't show it. He took out his phone, muttering: "There's a photography contest with prize money recently. I think the randomly changing scenery here looks pretty good. Perfect for taking some photos to enter the contest and earn pocket money~"
He symbolically took a few photos, then privately contacted his Detective Conan friends through his phone.
Through the previous period of training, several Detective Conan friends had adapted to their jujutsu world bodies and pretty much figured out their abilities. They just hadn't had real combat experience yet.
They had agreed that when Jiang Lai needed help, he would contact them privately. Except during work hours, they would definitely come to help.
When they had little free time, they would enter the program online to control spirits in battle. When they had more free time, they would come personally.
Recalling Matsuda Jinpei's previous words about work adjustments and having relatively light duties, Jiang Lai thought and first privately sent Matsuda Jinpei a message.
Matsuda Jinpei on the other side quickly replied with an OK, saying he had just gotten off work and was very free at the moment.
Just as he received the message from the other side, Jiang Lai heard Fushiguro Megumi beside him suddenly intake breath sharply, as if he had seen something.
He immediately looked up, gazing into the distance.
Under the moonlit forest illusion, a new figure appeared ahead.
A youth in navy blue kimono stood ahead, black hair flowing down like a waterfall. His slender fingers held an ancient-colored book.
His face was always shrouded in a layer of hazy white mist, making it impossible to see his face clearly, but one could still vaguely glimpse his upturned, gentle smile.
Jiang Lai: "?" Wasn't this himself from the Thousand Year arc?!
Seeing this scene, Little Sheep Jiang Lai also paused for two or three seconds.
His first reaction was: Sure enough, Fushiguro Megumi had also vaguely awakened memories from a thousand years ago. Though he wasn't clear on the details, it seemed he remembered him.
His second reaction was: What fake projection, the real deal is still right here (though wearing a disguise).
That projected 'navy blue figure' stood quietly in place at a distance under the moonlight. Under the swaying moonlight, he looked like a gentle egret grass.
Though he guessed it was an illusion projection, for a moment, Fushiguro Megumi still inevitably froze, his expression somewhat complex.
The moonlight and forest before him were from the place where his young self had been rescued countless years ago.
Fushiguro Megumi exhaled, calming his thoughts. Just as he was about to make a move, he noticed the brown-haired boy beside him summon a black wolf-dog with devil horns using his technique.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai's voice was lively as he patted the black wolf-dog beside him, then looked at Divine Dog Totality, pointing ahead: "Charge, bite him!"