Two People Walking Together, One of Them Falls ill

“I’m saying—where exactly are we going?”

“What if those cleanup programs come out again?”

Kada caught up to He Zunyi, who was walking ahead.

The entire space was littered with black distortions left behind by the spider tanks, along with fragments from their destruction.

It felt like knowingly walking straight into a tiger’s den.

The risk was enormous.

Kada carried a rifle in his hands.

It was the most practical weapon he could pull out from memory.

It had already been more than a dozen waves since the first spider-tank attack.

At the beginning, the two of them had struggled just to survive.

At first, it had mostly been He Zunyi handling things.

But after adapting, and with He Zunyi’s explanations, Kada gradually began to understand the rules of this virtual space.

This wasn’t merely a replay of their memories.

It was closer to a concretized program space.

Everything functioned like code.

It could be modified.

Reassembled.

He could even sense subtle shifts in the environment, as if he were standing inside a massive game engine.

In theory, he should have been able to recreate the leader’s abilities here, just like He Zunyi did.

But he couldn’t manage it yet.

It seemed to require a very specific kind of imagination.

Smoke still drifted from the muzzle of his rifle.

They had just survived another encounter.

“First of all,”

“This isn’t just a reconstruction of our memories.”

“It’s a fully realized program space.”

“You understand that much, right?”

Seeing Kada approach, He Zunyi tried to explain their objective in simple terms.

But Kada was distracted by something else.

He Zunyi looked… different.

“I more or less get it,” Kada said.

“But why have you been wearing a skirt since earlier?”

Kada stared at He Zunyi, who was wearing a white lab coat and a short skirt.

“Don’t tell me you’re into crossdressing?”

At this moment, He Zunyi looked like a lab researcher.

His hair was messy, like a bird’s nest.

His face wasn’t exactly handsome, but it was fair and clean.

The white lab coat gave him a faintly scientific air.

But underneath it was a JK uniform and a short skirt.

The combination was undeniably strange.

His exposed legs were long and straight, with barely any visible hair.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, they looked… good.

Kada’s gaze lingered on He Zunyi’s legs for a brief moment.

Then he quickly looked away.

Only to steal another glance from a more “subtle” angle.

Purely aesthetic appreciation.

Absolutely no lewd thoughts.

Liking beautiful things had nothing to do with sexual orientation.

It was human nature.

That’s what Kada told himself.

“What are you talking about?”

He Zunyi suddenly stared at him.

Kada immediately looked away, feeling guilty.

His cheeks warmed slightly.

He coughed to cover it up.

He sincerely hoped He Zunyi hadn’t heard him properly.

He Zunyi, however, seemed genuinely confused by the clothing comment.

He looked down at himself.

He was wearing a white lab coat.

Underneath were perfectly normal trousers.

“A skirt?”

“Are you… hallucinating?”

He frowned and adjusted his “pants.”

But to Kada, the motion looked like fingers brushing along the side of a thigh.

And the unconscious tug at the hem looked disturbingly similar to a woman adjusting a skirt.

It even reminded Kada of how his mother used to tidy her clothes.

“Focus, Kada.”

He Zunyi’s voice snapped him back.

“It’s nothing.”

“Probably overexertion.”

“My head feels a bit dizzy.”

Did he really not notice?

Or was something actually wrong?

Kada grew suspicious.

He Zunyi was definitely off.

“When you’re dizzy enough to see skirts,”

“that’s serious,” He Zunyi said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

“I suggest you find a place to rest.”

“And by the way—how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Still fine.”

“And that’s the middle finger.”

Kada’s response was immediate and accurate.

He Zunyi relaxed slightly.

“Good.”

Then he continued.

“We need to find the program’s error-handling module.”

“Force an abnormal termination.”

“So…?”

Kada already hated where this was going.

“We’ll use the program’s input-output pathways.”

“Reverse-infiltrate other modules.”

“Find the shutdown point.”

“Staying here isn’t an option.”

As they spoke, they arrived before a black spatial rift.

It hung in the air like a裂 abyss.

Its edges were twisted and irregular, as if scorched by flame.

An unsettling aura seeped out from within.

If another cleanup program spawned inside…

They’d be attacked instantly.

“Do we really have to go in there?”

“There might be other exits.”

“Elevators.”

“Doors.”

“Transportation systems.”

Kada stopped in front of the distortion.

Running straight into what looked like the enemy’s core was suicide.

“Heh.”

“Then I’ll go alone.”

He Zunyi turned back with a bright smile.

“Thanks for all your help.”

“We wouldn’t have made it this far without your fighting.”

Then—

He jumped in.

“Damn it.”

Kada looked around.

He didn’t want to be left behind.

In the end, he shut his eyes and dove in too.

Cold.

Like plunging into a frozen lake.

Darkness swallowed him whole.

Noise flooded his ears.

Data streams surged through his consciousness like electric currents.

Nausea.

Vertigo.

Like countless ants gnawing at his soul.

When Kada opened his eyes again—

He stood on a ruined street.

The air smelled damp and moldy.

Streetlights leaned crookedly.

Vines crawled over their shades, casting dim yellow light.

Cracked pavement spread like a shattered web.

Weeds sprouted from the fissures.

Skyscrapers were swallowed by ivy.

The city looked abandoned.

Then Kada noticed something else.

He Zunyi had changed again.

Long hair now.

Well-groomed.

It felt like a brother of many years had suddenly become a sister.

Either He Zunyi was getting stranger.

Or Kada himself was.

“I can tell from your eyes,”

“you’re hallucinating again.”

“Is my outfit better this time?”

“No difference.”

Kada forced his expression neutral.

“Good.”

“Symptoms aren’t worsening.”

Kada closed his eyes.

His thoughts were a mess.

Was he hallucinating?

Or was He Zunyi truly changing?

He preferred believing he was sick.

That explanation was safer.

But the dissonance kept scratching at him.

“So this is the error-correction area?”

Kada just wanted to leave.

Preferably with a psychiatrist afterward.

He Zunyi was sweeping aside a fallen sign.

An English function name was printed on it.

“Not exactly.”

“But it’s a higher-level program space.”

“It should lead us to the correction module.”

“Forcing a shutdown.”

For the first time, He Zunyi looked relieved.

Almost happy.