Chapter 50: Kids, That Wasn’t Me

“Yes… I did it all, I was wrong.” Dounia raised her small hand, wiping away crystal tears.
Adelle intently stared at her with a solemn expression, pressing closer as if interrogating a criminal.

“Doing something like this… will severely impact your future, do you understand?” she emphasized with a grave tone.
Dounia nodded her small head.
“I saw someone sneaky run into the train control room, and I thought she must be with those people who attacked you, Adelle, so I…”

‘Wuwuwu, damn it, why didn’t Alicia survive after all!’
‘I don’t want to play this broken game anymore, just destroy the world, hurry up!’
Dounia had completely given up struggling, her head bowed in dejection, hands clutching her head, trembling.

“So you…?” Adelle frowned.
“I used your can-opener dagger and stabbed her.” Dounia admitted plainly.
“Yes, I did all of these things.”
Adelle blinked.
“Did you not see any guards on the way?
Did you not try to call for help?”
“No…” Dounia shook her head.
“I stabbed her once, in her back, and then I immediately ran out…”
She knew there was no way to explain her use of ‘Mirror Walker’ to bypass the guards, but now that it had come to this, she had nothing left to defend herself with.
She could only hope that Ms. Adelle would spare her life out of kindness, but that wouldn’t change the fact that the world was doomed… wuwu.

‘Why is it so hard!’
‘That’s right.’ Adelle thought to herself.
Through a comprehensive interrogation with asymmetric information, all clues had been strung together.

Firstly, there was the Pleasure Sequence 8 – “Nightmare.”
Their plan from the start was to control her, who had stronger combat capabilities, and let Dounia, who seemed weaker, escape.

They used the idea that the other train was relatively safe, using this blind spot to defeat them one by one, thereby achieving their plan to hinder the train’s repair.
But a crucial part of this matter lay in the “glass shard” in Dounia’s hand, which allowed her to complete Sequence 9 of “Mirror Weaver,” giving her the ability to act covertly.
This was a situation the evil god followers had completely failed to anticipate, and even within the Anomaly Bureau, very few knew about it.

And the reason Dounia found no guards upon reaching the train was precisely because two different evil god followers inside had killed the guards beforehand and then unexpectedly encountered each other.
Even among evil god followers, there could be different organizations with differing ideologies, not to mention that all Extraordinary individuals of the Path of Slaughter were inherently dangerous lunatics.

It was not at all strange for them to cooperate yet develop rifts between them.
Therefore, this was why Alicia said she followed her, only to be ambushed and stabbed in the back.
As for the headless corpse, red hair similar in color to Alicia’s was found at the scene.

Although her name had not yet been confirmed, she was likely the assassin Dounia had ambushed and critically struck.
The clean cut on her neck was not made by Dounia, but was Alicia’s final retaliatory strike against the assassin in her dying moments, intended to destroy her identity information and hinder the Anomaly Bureau’s investigation.
Adelle’s eyes lit up.

As for the remnants of Pleasure power found in the stitched wound on Alicia’s back, she suspected Alicia was in league with that Nightmare.
‘This is very reasonable!’
“So, you ran out because you felt the train was dangerous and wanted to regroup with me, but then you were controlled by the ‘Nightmare,’ is that right?” Adelle stated her conclusion.
“Yes, yes, yes.” Dounia clasped her hands together as if in prayer, nodding her small head repeatedly, eagerly admitting everything.
‘Eh? What did she just say?’

“Alright~” Adelle walked over, praising her in a rather gratified tone.
Dounia’s blood-red eyes trembled slightly, welling up with tears.
‘At a time like this, why is Adelle still being sarcastic…’
“Don’t be so disheartened, you did very well.
Even if it were me, I might not have done better.” Adelle firmly patted Dounia’s shoulder.
“I’m really, really sorry…” Dounia said.
“It seems we’ll soon have a new Surveillance Officer.” Adelle slightly curved her lips, a hint of pride showing in her grey eyes – ‘Look, this is the child I personally brought up.’
‘And at such a young age, she’s already so meticulous, knowing when to advance and retreat in her first battle, striking once and then retreating without lingering, choosing to regroup with her comrades.
These are all judgments that only a seasoned Surveillance Officer would possess!’
‘?’

A large question mark appeared above Dounia’s head.
She felt as if she had misunderstood something.

Dounia looked at Adelle with a strange expression, carefully observing her micro-expressions.
‘Wait!’
‘She seems to be genuinely praising me, could it be that my preconceived judgment was wrong…’
“What, isn’t this your wish?” Adelle asked, puzzled.
“Or is my conclusion wrong?”
Adelle, without much guard, repeated her conclusion to Dounia.

Dounia blinked her large, innocent eyes.
‘Kids, that wasn’t me.jpg’
‘But it’s okay, it can be me!’
She felt the world regain its brilliance, and all her efforts were worthwhile!
“No, no, your conclusion is very correct!” Dounia nodded repeatedly, giving a thumbs-up.
“I didn’t even think of all that.”
“Is that so?” Adelle narrowed her eyes slightly.
“But you made excellent judgments without having all the relevant information.
You are truly the hero who saved the train!”
“Oh—!~~~” Dounia enthusiastically raised her two small arms and cheered.

Adelle narrowed her eyes, her eye corners curving in a smile, and gently stroked Dounia’s small head.
“Well done, truly my Executioner.”
It was hard to imagine that the person she had so disliked just days ago was now a mature and seasoned Executioner with distinguished achievements.
Adelle hugged Dounia and lightly pecked her on the cheek.
‘This was her own little selfish act, but also a reward for Dounia, what’s wrong with that?’
‘They’re both beautiful girls, who’s taking advantage of whom?’

Adelle, having rationalized it, gradually felt justified.
“Eh!?” Dounia’s face instantly flushed from the sudden attack, and her entire head wanted to retract into her jacket’s high collar, much like an ostrich trying to bury its head to avoid an attack.
“I will report this matter to Chief Fia, and with Ms. Violet’s help, your wish to become a Surveillance Officer has a good chance.” Adelle said.
“I still need to organize the case files, so you should rest well.”
“There’s one more thing.” Adelle, about to leave, turned back.

Dounia tilted her head.
‘Surely… she wouldn’t suddenly guess the correct answer now.’
‘There’s no way that would happen!’
“If you have time, go see Ms. Violet.
She’s been very worried about you since she heard what happened.”

Whoosh—
The figure departed, the door closed.
“Hoo—” Dounia let out a long breath, lying peacefully on the bed.
She had indeed prepared and planned for this matter, but uncontrollable factors had also disrupted her plans.
She instinctively glanced at the empty Chalice of Malice; it was hard to say this thing wasn’t playing a role, after all, its effect was to constantly lead the holder into the abyss of original sin.
And now that it was basically completely empty, she would be plagued by bad luck…
Dounia silently pulled up her small blanket.
‘Blanket defense, blanket defense!’

She felt a surge of malice directed at her.
The scene before her rapidly shifted and changed; Alicia, with long dark red hair, was pathologically stroking her own cheek with her left hand, her blood-red eyes full of desire.
“Dorothea…”
A white ceiling, this familiar single bed and bedside table… was she in the Anomaly Bureau’s hospital?
“Uwah!?”
Dounia, though nestled in her warm blanket, still shivered.
‘Hiss… why did this jinx follow me here too!
Stay away from me!’
‘The plan succeeded, but it’s a huge failure!’
Dounia vigorously shook her head, recalling Adelle’s deductions.
Currently, although Alicia was in the hospital room, it was in a capacity similar to her previous situation within the Anomaly Bureau.

‘After all, Extraordinary individuals of the Path of Slaughter are all lunatics.’
“Dorothea…” That deep, yearning female voice called out in her ear, making her hunch her body.
It felt like her throat was being choked.
‘Why does this person have such a huge grudge against me!’ Dounia frustratingly scratched her hair, making her smooth silver long hair a bit frizzy, with one cowlick sticking out in front.
‘Dorothea… Dorothea, why does she keep calling me Dorothea?

Isn’t my name Dounia Viktor?’
She tilted her head in confusion.
Dounia carefully searched the original host’s memories, finding nothing.
She then began to recall her past life; the name was somewhat familiar…
“Dorothea… Dorothea, the last time I saw that name, I think it was in a novel?”
“And it had to be related to Alicia, could it be a very important NPC to her?
But weren’t her close friends and family either betrayed or all dead?”

Puniu puniu.

Dounia stroked her smooth little chin.
“There was no such character among the enemies either, could it be a hidden character again?”
“Wait…”

Dounia’s eyes suddenly widened slightly.
When she played games, she usually liked to play the bad ending first, then the good ending, and then, filled with love for the character, play the bad ending again.
Only by feeling the shattering under full affection, only by experiencing that painful unrequited longing, could she achieve the true ending.

Each time she named a character, it reflected her state of mind at the time.
And when she played this DLC for “Utopia,” she had just read a novel about a princess who made a contract with a slime.
And when faced with [Please enter your name, the name she entered was…]
‘Dorothea!’
Dusty memories were unearthed, and Dounia’s small face instantly turned ashen white.
In this “Utopia” DLC, the hidden boss’s name appeared a handful of times.
And of all the bad luck, her name was also Dounia!
“…It can’t be that coincidental, can it!?”

Lilith appeared next to her with a snap, comically wiggling her heart-shaped tail.
“Do you think it could be that coincidental, my cute little Dounia?”
Dounia’s small face was covered in black lines.
“Alicia, this person… came from the New Game+ of the Bad Ending route?”
‘That Dragon Witch she personally trained?’
“Mommy, I wanna go home!!!!!”
Dounia cried out in collapse, her eyes adorable and fried-egg-like.