#014 – I would like to report a murder… of physics

#014 – I would like to report a murder... of physics

KaiEbikoOfficial: does your family know?

“I... don’t know? Probably not,” I replied with a shrug as I finished wiping off the last of my tears.

KaiEbikoOfficial: should I tell them?

I pursed my lips and thought about it for a moment.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. My relationships with my family had always been strained, especially after coming out. My sister was a little better, but I still wasn’t particularly close to her...

“Probably not... It’s fine.”

KaiEbikoOfficial: Nana...

“I mean... it’s not like you have contacts for them. And I can’t give them to you without giving it to the whole chat, right? Cuz I can’t turn off the stream,” I reasoned.

KaiEbikoOfficial: I guess that’s true

KaiEbikoOfficial: okay

KaiEbikoOfficial: how can I help then?

“I...” I frowned. “I don’t know?”

I genuinely had no idea what a fellow Vcuber could do to help me in my situation. As colorful as our lore could be, Vcubers didn’t actually have magical powers to traverse dimensions and whatnot.

“I guess just emotional support is enough...”

KaiEbikoOfficial: if that’s enough for you...

KaiEbikoOfficial: okay

KaiEbikoOfficial: I’ll be your friendly fairy Ebiko on your isekai journey!

I snorted, my mouth finally curving into a smile again.

“Fairy? I thought you were a shrimp girl.”

KaiEbikoOfficial: shrimp fairy!

KaiEbikoOfficial: I’ll do my best!

I grinned.

“Alright... Alright! I know I keep getting distracted, but now for real – Dungeon time...! Again...! Third time’s the charm!”

KaiEbikoOfficial: woohoo!

KaiEbikoOfficial: wait dungeon?

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to beat this weird dungeon, but I keep getting overwhelmed by the zombies. Last time, one even scratched me and I don’t even know if I’m turning into a zombie too...” I briefly looked at my status and found out that my race still said Human, thankfully.

KaiEbikoOfficial: then why are you going back?!

“Because I’m starving! Look, I even have a death clock!” I opened up the ‘Don’t starve’ quest description.

‘Don’t starve’ Side quest

Time left: 2d, 5h, 11m, 3s

Main objective:

Find something to eat.

Side objectives:

Find a source of food that will last you at least a week.

Rewards - 1SP

Penalty for failure - Death by starvation

KaiEbikoOfficial: what the falafel

KaiEbikoOfficial: that’s messed up

“Mhmm, I know,” I dryly replied as I finally made it to the dungeon’s entrance again. “But yeah. There’s nothing out here besides the dungeons. I tried eating bush leaves and the goo... but none of them were real food.”

Which reminded me... I needed to use appraisal on the trees too at some point. And the orange smoke inside them as well.

Not right now, though. I had distracted myself for long enough.

KaiEbikoOfficial: wait there’s no animals or fruits or anything?

“Nope... Nothing. As far as I can tell, there’s only fruitless plants and these weird dungeons in this world. And since the dungeon chests have random stuff in them, I’m hoping to find something edible at some point...”

KaiEbikoOfficial: right

KaiEbikoOfficial: still weird

KaiEbikoOfficial: where’s this dungeon then?

KaiEbikoOfficial: and what is this place?

I sighed. “This is the dungeon. I told you. The dungeons are weird,” I said as I stepped over the boundary and let the uncomfortable chill go down my spine again.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

I was getting used to that feeling.

KaiEbikoOfficial: huh

KaiEbikoOfficial: that doesn’t sound like a good thing

I shrugged. “What can I do? It’s either this or slowly starving to death out there. And if I have to die anyway, I’ll go out in a blaze of glory!”

KaiEbikoOfficial: Nana... ;_;

KaiEbikoOfficial: are we sure that’s not your kidnapper’s plan?

KaiEbikoOfficial: like...

KaiEbikoOfficial: he wants you to become this super soldier

I frowned.

“You think this is some kind of messed up experiment...? Like... I’m being conditioned? Getting used to fighting vaguely human-shaped enemies?”

Something about that thought made me feel cold. Of course, I had been concerned about turning into a psychopath, but what if that was the whole point of this?

KaiEbikoOfficial: yeah it’s like he’s trying to slowly convert you to the dark side

KaiEbikoOfficial: you have to fight it!

KaiEbikoOfficial: don’t lose yourself!

KaiEbikoOfficial: don’t become the villain!

I stared for a second before taking a slow breath and sighing.

“Right... Yeah...” I shook my head. “Who do you take me for, Ebi?! I’m not gonna lose myself! I am Aoto Nana, the chimera of seven races! Something like this isn’t enough to break me!” I confidently proclaimed. “...Although I’m back to being just human now... Whatever! I’m Aoto Nana, the tiny human! Here to mess up all the evil phoenix plans!”

KaiEbikoOfficial: heck yeah!

KaiEbikoOfficial: and I’m Kai Ebiko, your guardian shrimp fairy!

“Yeah! Now let’s keep going!”

I finally looked around to properly survey the room I was in and then stopped.

“Hold on... How does this even work?”

I walked back to the window and to the left of it, where the room stretched beyond what should be possible without expanding into the hallway outside. Sure, it explained how a zombie had gotten behind me, but...

“This is nonsense! Stupid non-euclidian rooms!”

KaiEbikoOfficial: hey that means there could be secret chests hidden around the corners

I groaned and rubbed my face.

“You’re right... I’ll have to search every single room for the key.” I sighed. “Well, I guess I have my work cut out for me. I better get started then...”

I began by exploring the extended part that defied the fabric of space-time and found out that the room kept going around and behind the wall where the window existed and looped all the way around in a vague donut shape back to the window... or more likely, a different window, since it didn’t keep wrapping around and this was clearly a different room.

My eye twitched and I cautiously looked out of that window, only to see that I was looking out of a completely different window, far away from the locked gate, on the opposite side from where I’d entered the other window.

I let out a pained groan and slid a hand down my face.

“It’s a non-eudlician maze! This is going to be such a pain!”

KaiEbikoOfficial: oh my god

KaiEbikoOfficial: okay don’t worry

KaiEbikoOfficial: I gotchu

KaiEbikoOfficial: I’m gonna draw a map

I blinked. “How are you gonna draw a map?”

KaiEbikoOfficial: I dunno but I’m gonna try!

“Okay... thanks, Ebi.” I briefly glanced above Ebi’s messages, but it had somehow gotten even worse. It was all flashing by way too quickly for me to read anything.

“...I gotta get that streamer skill upgrade next. The one with group chats. It feels a bit lame, but I literally can’t read anything but Ebi’s messages right now.” I huffed. “Anyway! Let’s keep exploring, I guess.”

I climbed out of the window into the hallway again and briefly glanced around.

“Actually... If I’m gonna go through every room anyway, I might as well start at the beginning,” I said as I made my way to the entrance of the dungeon again without anything attacking me. But this time, rather than leaving, I randomly picked the left wall and began eyeing the room beyond the first window.

KaiEbikoOfficial: okay!

KaiEbikoOfficial: I’m gonna take notes

KaiEbikoOfficial: write down where every window leads

I grinned.

“Awesome! Thanks, Ebi!”

And with that, the thorough dungeon exploration began.