Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 258 - 230 Giant Fox

Chapter 258: Chapter 230 Giant Fox

Through the illusion, the bullet hit Du Qianqian’s body, the tip spinning inside her, churning her flesh into a blur.

As Du Qianqian’s body rapidly fell backwards, she let out a piercing scream, clutching the place where she was hit, unconsciously releasing her transformation and reverting to her original form, her expression twisted violently from the intense pain, tears continuously flowing.

When 101 saw that the target hit was not a giant fox but a human, she immediately tensed up, and upon realizing the person was Du Qianqian, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyway, she had hit something she disliked.

Seeing this, Xu Yang furrowed his brow, immediately crouched in front of Du Qianqian, injected her with a healing injection in her shoulder, then picked her up around her waist and rushed out of the ward, heading for the nearest automedic, opened the chamber door with voice recognition and placed Du Qianqian on the operation chair.

"Huff... huff..." Du Qianqian breathed laboriously, her life force rapidly fading away.

"It’s going to be okay," Xu Yang comforted her.

Du Qianqian only felt numbness from her chest down, the place where she was hit felt as if it was swallowed by nothingness, denying her any sense of pain which was not a good sign, for she had also lost all sensation in her body from the wound outward, with the numbness and cold spreading quickly.

Through tear-blurred eyes, she looked at Xu Yang, hoping he would stay by her side; she didn’t want to be left alone.

"It’s so painful..." Du Qianqian murmured.

"Hold on, you’re going to get better," Xu Yang soothed Du Qianqian.

"Mhm..." Du Qianqian hid her grievances inside.

Xu Yang quickly stepped out from the automedic, closed the chamber door, and operated the external panel, selecting the fully automatic treatment mode—emergency—abdominal trauma—small caliber gunshot wound—pre-applied healing injection—activate. After confirming the mode, the sound of mechanical arms lifting and guide rails moving filled the interior, the automedic administered anesthesia to Du Qianqian, and then began a series of procedures, attempting to remove the bullet fragment, cut away the shredded flesh, and clean the wound.

"... I’m sorry," 101 came over.

"Why did you shoot Du Qianqian?" Xu Yang asked, puzzled.

"I thought she was a threat to you guys," 101 explained, unconsciously flicking her brown hair.

"A threat?"

"I didn’t know it was her; she had transformed into a huge fox," 101 didn’t want it to seem like she acted out of personal malice.

"A huge fox..." Xu Yang fell into thought, "...That’s not right."

What he saw didn’t quite match; the Du Qianqian he saw didn’t look dangerous at all. But like 102, 101 seemed to have mistaken Kirino Reisei for something else.

Xu Yang returned to the ward, where 102 was anxious.

"How is it?" 102 was worried, "Is Qianqian okay?"

"Before you worry about her, worry about yourself," 101 pushed her sister back onto the bed, urging her to lie down properly.

"She might die," Xu Yang said, "but with Farosa here, we can avoid the worst outcome."

"Ah..." 102 worried that Du Qianqian and 101’s relationship would always remain hostile, which was definitely not favorable. At Nestor Corporation, they saw each other day and night; there shouldn’t be any rifts in their relationship.

"Just now... the way Du Qianqian transformed, you saw it too, right?" Xu Yang said, "What did she look like to you?"

"She turned into a monster with a green face and sharp teeth," 102 gestured, "with a mouth stretched to her ears and protruding teeth."

"I saw a big fox at least 3 meters tall," 101 recognized the discrepancy, "not as scary as what you described, at least a very beautiful fox. Very pretty. Although I still shot at it."

"An unintended mistake," Xu Yang pondered, "I’ll explain it to Qianqian myself later. Moreover, it was my idea to have her transform; I’m also to blame. The original intention was to use Qianqian’s power to reveal the true face of the Sakura Witch, but it seems that different people see the Sakura Witch in completely different ways."

"Let’s try it with others," 102 climbed out of bed, "I want to hear what other people have to say."

Xu Yang archived the footage of the incident, playing it back repeatedly.

Modern technology, which should dismiss all spells in its recordings, proved otherwise; people still saw different things on the screen. To Xu Yang, Du Qianqian’s face after the transformation remained enchantingly ethereal, unforgettable to him.

Xu Yang deconstructed the footage itself, and the graphic processing software provided the most accurate display data, proving that the "Kirino Reisei" facial area was essentially a blur, with the light and color readout being nothing but a gray haze.

In reality, people shouldn’t be able to see anything clearly at all.

In response to this, Xu Yang convened a secret screening meeting. He edited the video to cut out other areas, only leaving the full image of Du Qianqian after transformation, and did not inform the others of the actual information in the video footage; he simply requested that they watch honestly and report what they saw.

"A fox head monster with a terrifying split mouth and no eyes," noted 102.

"An incredibly strong, enormous fox," recorded 101, "one can sense the beauty of the animal."

"A mist, within which one can faintly make out a standing fox," Lila noted.

"A fox-headed woman wearing a pink sweater with flowing long hair, looking noble and elegant," recorded Mizuiro Yoshioka.

"A wicked black fox head with a sinister smile, wearing a lab coat," Shallow Dream noted.

"A lifeform with a fox head and human body," Miyazato Kazama recorded, "about 1.75 meters in height, with black hair behind its head, wearing old noblewomen’s robes from the Archipelago Continent, with an elegant posture, a distinguished aura, a protruding snout, and pink eyeshadow beneath its eyes."

Farosa also glanced at the video.

"A white-furred fox that stands upright, with several cherry blossom petals on its head," she said, "There’s something special about it."

"What about you?" 102 looked at Xu Yang, "A fox of that size coming up close to you, how come you remain so calm?"

At this point, it was impossible to admit he only saw a beautiful woman.

"All in all," Xu Yang said, "the current investigation has yielded some clues, and I appreciate everyone’s cooperation."

An hour later, the automatic doctor lit up green, and after a hiss of exhaust, the cabin door slowly opened, indicating the surgery had been successfully completed. Despite the risks involved, Du Qianqian had made it through bravely.

She donned a blue-striped hospital gown, weakly walked out of the automatic doctor, her complexion pale and bloodless, as if she’d topple over with just a breath, and she would need some time to recuperate in the ward.

Xu Yang and 101 both had things they wanted to say to Du Qianqian, but beating them to it, Lila claimed she had something to discuss with Du Qianqian and took her to her room directly.

Nevertheless, this minor chaos left many doubts.

Looking at the archives publicly available from Kyoto Infinity, Kirino Reisei was undoubtedly a Reality Manipulator, and multiple faces might very well be her power as a Witch.

Kirino Reisei, a founding elder of Kyoto Infinity, assisted in the growth of the entire company, from the first president to the seventh; Kirino Reisei was always there to support and guide, welcoming each new president into the ancient shrine to complete the established ritual, and then often accompanying the president to offer advice and strategies.

Perhaps under the influence of Kirino Reisei’s guidance, all the presidents were indeed astute and competent, decisive and bold, top-notch professional managers who fulfilled the shareholders’ demands for expanding the group benefits.

In all manners of reports, Kirino Reisei forever wore an unchanging fox face mask, her appearance mysterious, her true face inscrutable, never willing to reveal her actual appearance. If her ability was to present different appearances based on the observer, then wearing a mask made perfect sense to avoid confusion. Contemplating this, Xu Yang felt the situation was tricky.

Pan Ruiyi was reassigned by Kirino Reisei, and they needed Pan Ruiyi to return and participate in the Seven Witches Ritual, which was the basis of everything. Now, it seemed, the only route was to establish contact directly with Kirino Reisei herself.

Xu Yang checked the key provided by Kitada Ryuuji and accessed one of Kyoto Infinity’s secret communication channels for the elite. Using the key, he passed through secure authentication, interfacing with the channel via an encrypted proxy server.

Within a rudimentary visual interface, he only saw an isolated fox face icon in the center of the screen, currently colored, indicating that Kirino Reisei herself was on the channel at that moment.

The Sakura Witch... Kirino Reisei.

He had pre-set an anonymity effect, and upon coming online, his presence manifested as a gray icon.

Elsewhere, on the 79th floor of the Kyoto Infinity Headquarters building, the entire floor was divvied up as the private domain of the Sakura Witch.

Kirino Reisei sat in a black swivel chair, attentively staring at the smart screen in front of her. When a stranger accessed Kyoto Infinity’s secure communication channel, she received a prompt almost instantly.

This communication channel had extremely high-security protocols, rendering it impregnable to hackers, and it was only open to core members of Kyoto Infinity, senior investors, and key subsidiary companies. With Kyoto Infinity currently in a weakened state, and different factions contemplating withdrawal, the channel had fallen silent.

But now, a stranger had arrived.

Kirino Reisei immediately opened the channel page, focusing her attention.

Because of her mysterious nature, the public often imagined Kirino Reisei living a lavish life, collecting numerous art pieces, and conducting herself with style. However, in reality, she was quite frugal; the entire office floor’s decor was rather simple. She kept only the essential furniture and electronic equipment, removing all optional decorations. Gifts presented to her were distributed to her subordinates or sold off for funds to save for a rainy day.

Correspondingly, to help Kyoto Infinity weather this crisis, her personal savings accumulated over more than a century had been depleted, leaving her virtually penniless. Should Kyoto Infinity dismiss Kirino Reisei, she would have no means of self-preservation and would soon be acquired and captured by other companies.

Considering that the account accessing the channel could be a new influential investor, Kirino Reisei brightened up. She clicked on the stranger’s account and sent a greeting.

"Hello," she watched the screen intently, awaiting a reply and pondering the possible responses from the other party.