Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 64

Selectors

Inside the room.

The sounds of lives could be heard from outside.

The sound of car, the voices of children, the chirping voice of bird.

Various sounds could be heard but, Akito was looking up at the ceiling inside the room.

The tablet that he was given was made so it couldn’t connect to any network. The data inside it also couldn’t be copied.

The data that he received also included the classified document regarding the new reactor.

「Energy that kill living thing huh.」

It was a wonderful invention to produce semipermanent energy. But, this energy had a flaw.

It was certainly a wonderful energy as long as it was strictly managed and its use wasn’t mistaken.

However, it would affect human body if it leaked out even just for a little.

It would gnaw on the body like poison, and at the end it would kill the affected.

The current medical science wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.  There were already several people with similar sickness who got  hospitalized.

It was treated as an unknown disease, but there was evidence attached on the data that it was related to an unknown energy.

Akito too wasn’t stupid.

He couldn’t easily believe this data.

And yet, for some reason it didn’t look like a lie to him.

「Why……have I gone insane?」

Mankind was trying to obtain energy that they even went as far as  using an energy that might be poisonous to everything on earth.

And then, there was one more danger.

「This one is also not funny at all.」

That was the plan that was progressing without any involvement from  the moon. The plan of the government to control the populace.

The reason why the government provided a great amount of funding for Pandora and arranged the personnel for its development――.

The data said that they were aiming for brainwashing using VR.

It was an inhuman plan, but all people would be happy from that if they didn’t realize it.

They could be happy as long as they could access Pandora. They didn’t  need to seek for happiness in reality and would be provided with  happiness in the virtual world.

Everyone could be happy even if they were forced to work for the country in the real world.

「……This is unacceptable.」

He couldn’t accept such thing at all.

The real world was getting affected as the game was getting cleared.

That was the result of the experiment that the government was carrying out.

The data from the information broker also included the information about Selector.

「The selection of guinea pig about the influence that the virtual world give to the real world……this is human experimentation.」

With each large scale update, the player became more easily influenced by the game.

But before the implementation of that, the process was experimented on the Selectors first.

「Both the moon and the earth are too awful.」

He learned that there were some outrageously big plans in progress. But, Akito didn’t know what he should do from now on.

Then his smartphone rang.

He jumped on his feet in surprise. The caller was Riku.

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Monday.

Maya was standing still in front of the classroom.

Usually Akito should have arrived earlier than her.

「Calm down……just calm down. Act like usual. Yes, act like usual, then  invite Naruse-kun to meet after school to dispel the  misunderstanding……」

Maya was repeatedly muttering to herself. She was hardening her resolve.

First she should apologize.

(But, perhaps we won’t be able to play together in Pandora anymore.)

She had put her unpleasant side on display. It was too late now to cover it up.

It was really regrettable.

(Even though I finally found someone I can be honest with)

Surely she was just a bother to him.

That was why she decided that it would be better for them to go their separate way here.

The guilty feeling of being a bother, and the shame of showing the  side that she didn’t want to show to the person who she liked. Those  feelings made Maya gave up thinking that there was no way to repair  their relationship. She entered the classroom with such thought.

「――Eh?」

But, Akito wasn’t inside the classroom.

Far from that, even Riku who was close to him also wasn’t inside the classroom.

Their bags also weren’t on their desks. It seemed that those two hadn’t even come to school.

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「Naruse is taking a break?」

At the part-time workplace.

Yakumo who had been greatly worrying about a lot of things was told  by the middle-aged female employee that Akito was taking a break from  work.

「That’s right. He’s a diligent boy, so something must have happened. I also heard that he got hospitalized before this.」

Yakumo averted her gaze from the female employee in order to hide her guilt.

「I-I guess so.」

(I can’t say it, that I punched him really hard.)

She punched him even stronger than she thought.

Even Yakumo didn’t expect that her punch would be that strong.

The female employee said.

「That’s why, I asked a girl who should be off today to work. She  often took a break and caused others to cover up for her, so we need to  have her work hard at this kind of time.」

The female employee was worrying for Akito because of his usual diligence.

A girl who seemed to be reluctant to work in her day off came out  from the back. She was muttering complaints, but Yakumo paid her no  mind.

(Naruse……is he alright? As I thought I should meet him before this……)

She wanted to apologize to him directly, but someone skipped work at  Sunday and she had to come working here as their replacement.

A small part of her was happy that it gave her an excuse to not meet him. She felt ashamed of that.

After receiving the explanation, Yakumo started working with the girl who she rarely talked with.

This girl’s movement and work ethic were bad compared to Akito, but she had no intention to criticize her.

(Will I be able to meet him tomorrow?)

She wanted to apologize to him even if it was inside the game.

December.

Christmas was near. Yakumo was decorating the inside of the store while sighing.

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Akito was holding a headset with both hands inside a dark room.

He had logged in many times until now.

He always enjoyed playing the game like it was only natural, but today the situation was a little――no, completely different.

He looked at the clock.

There was still some time left.

There was a voice talking from his smartphone. Riku’s voice came from there in speaker mode.

『You seem nervous huh.』

「I’m nervous. I never even dreamed about saving the world with game.」

『You said it! ……But, I’m glad that you’re also helping out.』

Akito laughed a little at Riku’s serious voice.

『What?』

「No, I’m just thinking how strange this is. Why are we playing game  in order to save the world? I’m wondering if there’s a more direct  method that we can take.」

What Akito pondered was about infiltrating the underground colony  directly to do something about the reactor. That way would be more  cooler and worthy to be turned into movie.

But, the reality was different.

The avatars of the Selectors were special.

He didn’t know how that could be useful but, their plan was to  infiltrate the system that was managing the new reactor from the virtual  world.

There was a reason for this.

VR technology was being used for game, but in the first place this technology was also appropriated for controlling the system.

Akito and others would go wild inside the data, while the information  broker and others would access the new reactor from outside. And then  they would prosecute the scheme of the company, government, and the moon  from there.

『According to the information broker, this is so that we won’t be  harmed. Good grief, the world will end if we failed……the burden is just  too heavy.』

But, Akito was concerned.

「But, they won’t announce that Pandora is actually a test site won’t they?」

『More like, that they can’t announce that. Well, I too think that’s  only natural. But, putting it another way, we have the chance to save  the world like this because of the government’s involvement.』

The experiment of the new reactor.

The trial run was set so that it would fail.

The trap that the moon engineers were cleverly hiding would activate at that time.

In order to stop that, Akito and others would access the system from the virtual world.

Ironically, Pandora was equipped with the spec that made that  possible thanks to the government setting it up as a test site. In  addition, the information broker possessed the method that would enable  such access.

「Will they be okay with gaining access directly at the actual site?」

Akito recalled how unhealthy looking the information broker was. He was anxious for the success of this operation.

Riku laughed.

『That person is going to give instruction from the virtual world so  don’t worry. The others will slip in smoothly so it will be fine. Now  then, it’s time.』

The call was cut off. Then Akito put on his headset and lied down.

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The security in the underground colony was heavy because of the new reactor’s trial run.

The facility guards were strictly guarding the place. Then some  people wearing work clothes was being guided inside by a man who was  dressed like a guard. They were riding on a cart that had boxes piled up  on it.

「Oi, stop.」

Two guards who were patrolling the corridor approached them. They  were armed with submachine guns that were filled with rubber bullets.

The guard showed them his ID.

「Sorry, it looks like there’s something that suddenly needs a repair. We have permission.」

The two guards kept being on guard while checking the ID. Certainly these people had permission.

The two guards lowered their gun and apologized.

「Sorry for that, but this is also our job.」

「It’s alright. Sorry to take your time like this.」

The workers behind the guard also lowered their head and continued  going through the passage. Their expressions were looking nervous.

The younger one of the two guards became curious and watched the back of the workers.

「……Aren’t those guys suspicious?」

「Obviously they’ll look nervous after getting gun pointed at them. Besides everyone is particularly on edge today.」

The younger guard still didn’t look convinced.

「But, the guy just now……I’ve never seen him before.」

「They have permission. Come on, let’s go back to work.」

The guard and the wokers had stopped walking after turning around the  corner. They patted their chest in relief and put away their weapons.

Those were machine guns. And they weren’t loaded with rubber bullet, but live bullet.

One of them used a small laptop to access the corridor.

「I’m hacking the security camera. We just need to keep walking straight and Pandora’s server will be right nearby.」

The guard stayed alert toward the surrounding.

「Let’s hurry. There’s no time.」

Everyone nodded and immediately moved toward the room where Pandora’s server was placed.

◇

Capital of Hope.

It had been a long time since he visited this place. Some of the players there also knew about Ponsuke.

「Ah, it’s Ponsuke!」

「Eh? He should have moved on to the next world already right?」

「He isn’t with miss boobies and the queen today.」

Ponsuke smiled wryly while talking with the blonde haired and blue eyed youth――Rook beside him.

「You’re popular.」

「Orc stand out after all. Besides, it doesn’t feel like they’re really praising me positively.」

They were heading to the center of the Capital of Hope.

To the back of the shrine where the dead players were revived――the graveyard.

The information broker who was wearing a hooded robe and his comrades were waiting there.

A man wearing a black uniform that looked like a military uniform and a Shinsengumi haori over it was standing there.

Rook whistled.

「That’s the celebrity of the Capital of Discernment. Ponsuke, he’s  the guild master of Shinsengumi that you guys often get entangled with.」

Looking at the man, even Ponsuke realized the man’s identity immediately from his unique attire.

His avatar name was [Isami].

It seemed he was also a player.

Other than him, there were also many other Selectors with varied race.

But, the orc was only Ponsuke.

(So orc is few even here.)

The gathered people here looked nervous.

There were players who looked like they had just started playing, and there were also players who rarely logged in.

There were guild masters of tiny guilds and also guild masters of famous guilds.

There were also some famous players among them.

The information broker clapped his hands and started explaining after seeing that everyone had gathered.

「Thank you for coming here, brave heroes. We’re really thankful for  all of you who joined us here today. We will go to save the world after  this……are you all prepared?」

Rook held his great sword on his shoulder.

「We’re going to go wild inside the system. If we die then we will return here and go wild again. It’s the same like usual.」

The surrounding chuckled when he heard him saying that this was nothing different than usual.

The information broker smiled.

「It’s certainly as you said. Well, we will support all of you from  here. Only the selectors and the involved players can go past here. Have  you resolved yourself?」

Isami hit the ground with his sheathed katana.

He put his hands on the handle, then his comrades gathered around him one after another.

「The Shinsengumi is prepared.」

Ponsuke looked around. He saw that there were also many other players gathering here.

Rook’s guild members were also appearing around him.

「Ponsuke, you didn’t call your guild here?」

Ponsuke nodded and looked down at Rook’s question.

「This is my problem. Besides, the atmosphere there is a bit awkward right now.」

He had told Rook about the failed offline gathering.

Rook too guessed the situation and patted his shoulder.

「I see. Then, you have to work hard here so you can also reconcile with them later.」

The information broker create a hole in the graveyard.

「――It’s connected. The new reactor’s system is in the other side of  this. We’re using Pandora’s monster to picture the security system.  Everyone just need to rampage at the other side. But there’s just one  thing that I want everyone to be careful about.」

The information broker only gave one warning.

「The sense of pain will be normalized at the other side. You’ll be  able to return here even if you die, but please understand that you will  feel the corresponding pain fully. Actually we want to do something  about that but, we don’t have enough manpower.」

This side didn’t have enough manpower, so they could only give the players minimal backup.

This was also one of the reasons why Ponsuke didn’t tell his friends about this.

The Selectors also seemed to have resolved themselves. They nodded  seriously and went through the hole――the gate one after another to  infiltrate the system.

◇

At the control room of Pandora’s server.

The information broker’s comrades had restrained the staffs and  security guards. There they succeeded in connecting Pandora with the  system of the new reactor.

「Alright, the Selectors are coming in droves.」

They had crossed the turning point at the real world, but the problem was with taking over the system.

The Selectors would have to buy time for that. Suppressing Pandora and gathering information would also take time.

「The rest will depend on the effort of the Selectors.」

The armed guard muttered that.

The man who was dressed like a worker connected his device on the machine, and then he started sucking in the data.

A vast amount of information was sucked, from there it was a painful work of searching for the required data.

It would be over in one hour, but putting it another way, the  Selectors would have to buy time for two days in the virtual world.

It was at such timing.

「……Crap, it’s a trap. The lunarian bastards also left behind more traps here!」

One person yelled that. Tension enveloped the inside of the room.

「Can’t we do something about it from here?」

「Impossible. We can only rely on the virtual world side to take care of it.」

「Then, if the Selectors manage to remove the trap……」

The knowledgeable worker looked uneasy, so the guard asked him briefly.

「Will the Selectors be able to deal with it?」

The worker answered.

「It’ll be like facing a cheat level boss. It’ll be fine even if they  don’t defeat it as long as they buy us time but……their heart will break  first if they keep dying. We won’t be able to buy time unless the  Selectors keep rampaging inside the system.」

Some people inside the room even started to pray.

「Even though we have finally come this far」

There were even people who looked frustrated.

「Can’t we give any support from here?」

「This is moon’s technology. We won’t be able to do anything no matter  how much we struggle here. That’s why we’re relying on the Selectors  like this.」

They were completely helpless in front of the moon’s advanced technology.

The people there felt useless.

They could only entrust their plan to the Selectors.

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