Chapter 583 – Episode 62. Graduation Trip – New Nanjing Apocalypse.
I checked the articles again before entering the zoo, but there were no articles yet. He asked Eve just in case, but Eve couldn’t give him much information.
EVE: Originally, cyborgs equipped with sentient spines have difficulty controlling their emotions, so dozens of violent incidents occur every day in New Nanjing. Don’t worry too much, Ryuta. If there is any problem, I will reach out to you.
In fact, the problem that Eve mentioned was not being able to control her emotions. The Centipede Spine was a centipede-shaped cyber implant that went down from the neck to the spine. It allowed the use of neural acceleration, which greatly increased combat power, but because it directly affected the central nervous system, it often caused mental problems in users.
In TMC, a few decades later from the perspective of Megacorp’s youngest son, the side effects were somewhat alleviated, but even then, they were still notorious side effects. Due to a berserk phenomenon called Centipede Rage, he would suddenly attack his colleagues and cause various accidents even when not in battle.
If you think about Centipede Spine’s incident like that, you can see how much of a fraud Alric is as he can use neural acceleration even without Centipede Spine. It was even better because it was my own ability and there were no side effects.
“Isn’t Ryutachi included? “Let’s go see the lions quickly.”
“How much do you like lions?”
As I stood still looking at my phone while chatting with Eve, Seiza and Shii wrapped their arms around me and pulled me towards them. Before I knew it, Alric was holding the other sleeve, and when I looked at him, he looked up at me and opened his mouth.
“Ryuta, let’s go see Mr. Dolphin.”
Dolphin, you’re so cute. However, looking at the map at the entrance, the aqua pavilion with dolphins and the safari pavilion with lions were in opposite directions. Where should I go first?
“No, a flying squirrel would be better.”
Next to Alik, Risa Minamoto spoke to me with a sly expression, as if she was going to show me the good points of flying squirrels. The rest of the students did not enter the zoo, but were watching me. No, since when did you want to go around with me? . Oh, you kept going with me on this graduation trip. Then I have no choice but to suggest a solution.
“Then let’s all play a game like rock-paper-scissors, starting with the winner, and then go to a nearby place to watch.”
“Great! Animal lovers gather here at the safari hall!”
“Alik, you go to the aqua hall.”
“The small animal center is coming my way.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the students gathered together with their fellow coffin animal-loving friends. The idea was to look at the animal of the student who took first place, and then look at the animals nearby, so even if the student didn’t get first place, if a student who liked the same type of animal won, they would be able to see it right away, so they had no choice but to get together naturally.
It’s only rock, paper, scissors, so I don’t know what the strategy is, but the students who had been whispering to each other for a while gathered together to compete in rock, paper, scissors. As a result of playing rock, paper, scissors, the winner is…
“Ryuta, Alric won… !”
Of course, it was Alric who could use nerve acceleration. Alrik seemed happy, hopping slightly and grabbing my sleeve. Since the aqua hall with the dolphin performance hall and the safari hall with the lions were opposite, they were naturally the last in line, and Seizawa Shii was devastated.
“Ha… Lion is the last.”
“Don’t think of it as the end, think of it as a highlight.”
“Really? Ryu Tachi is positive.”
Seiza and Shii also smiled at my words and regained their energy. As expected, Seiza and Shii’s bright appearance suited them.
“I haven’t been able to go to the zoo often even though I’ve been working with Serif. So, I feel good about coming on a graduation trip like this!”
Karen Uenozono was still filming the zoo with her GoPro and talking as if she was having a conversation. She also talked to her special class friends in between sessions and captured her friends on GoPro’s screen. Perhaps because she thought it was all a memory from her graduation trip, she willingly agreed to appear on Serif Channel’s vlog.
After walking for a while, there was a moving walkway leading to the aquarium, so I was able to get there comfortably. Since Alik won, he went to the outdoor stage where the dolphin show was held first, sat down and watched the dolphin show.
“Wow…”
As he watched the dolphin’s stunts, Alrik’s eyes lit up like a starry night sky. Was it that amazing? If he had known you liked it this much, he would have taken you to an aquarium in Japan.
“Ryu Tachi, look at that! The dolphin jumped while rotating its body~☆”
Seiza and Shii, who were sullen because they couldn’t see the lion, were tapping my arm and making a fuss, so it seemed like they were all having fun watching the performance.
“It was fun… !”
After the performance, Alek smiled slightly as if he was satisfied, and we went into the aquarium to see the fish. It was the place chosen by Tsubaki Shido, who loves tropical fish, and Konoka Urabe, who loves octopus.
Is it because Urabe Konoka is a shrine maiden of Daughter of the Abyss that she likes octopuses? Personally, I think the jellyfish is a more symbolic sea animal in Daughter of the Abyss. It is said that when she offered the body as an offering, she gave it to the jellyfish as food.
As I walked around looking at the tropical fish and various sea creatures swimming leisurely in the blue aquarium, I suddenly saw the exit. It wasn’t as enjoyable as the dolphin show I just saw, but it felt like it made me feel at ease. In particular, Tsubaki Shido was looking at the tropical fish moving in a group dance in the aquarium as if she were fascinated.
For your information, Urabe Konoka was nodding her head and smiling as if she was having a conversation with an octopus. She would look scary if someone she didn’t know saw her. Even the special class students were a little scared of her.
Of course, the students in her special class knew that Urabe Konoka was a real shrine maiden, so they just thought she was a weird kid.
“Did you talk to the octopus?”
“No. It’s not even a story. Because octopuses are highly intelligent, they can communicate to some extent in small amounts.”
I was curious about what she was talking about, so I asked her, and Konoka Urabe answered with a slight smile. She probably seemed like Urabe Konoka had some trait, such as affinity for aquatic life, given the glasses she wore at the ruins.
Next was the panda special hall, located between the aquatic hall and the small animal hall. In fact, after China was divided into three after World War III, each side claimed ownership of the panda species, but in the end, no conclusion was reached. Until now, they had just been claiming that it was theirs.
“Panda is cute…”
Yuka Otagi, who had chosen pandas as her first animal to see, was meowing and throwing away the food she had purchased at the entrance to the special panda hall. She bought 50,000 yen worth of food and when Yuka Otagi threw it to her, the pandas were excited and eating it.
“Is it okay for a salaried worker to spend 50,000 yen here?”
I asked her because she was Yuka Otagi, who had broken away from her family and was receiving a salary from me.
“Why don’t you ask the teacher to raise your salary a little more?”
She was Yuka Otagi, who spoke as if it was no big deal. Now that she was a student, and she didn’t have any special duties yet, she was giving in moderation. However, since she was the daughter of a famous family, money was tight for Yuka Otagi, so she often took on part-time jobs given by Eve.
“I’ll give you a raise when you graduate.”
“Don’t forget that?”
To be honest, I am also responsible for all of Yuka Otagi’s meals (flat fee), and if you consider the price, the salary that Yuka Otagi received was absolutely not small. Still, she didn’t want to be stingy with her people, so she was willing to give her a much higher salary if she graduated and was assigned a full-fledged mission.
After Yuka Otagi had used up all of her 50,000 yen worth of food, she passed through the panda special hall and came to the cow zoo where Risa Minamoto and a few others wanted.
“Look over there~!”
She was usually the cool Risa Minamoto, but now she seemed to be unable to control her excitement. She looked very happy as she watched the flying squirrel gliding down the tree.
“Is it that good?”
“It’s a mammal, but it flies in the sky like that. It’s cute too…”
It was Risa Minamoto who answered my question with a slightly shy expression. She was definitely cute.
“And… “You can fly too.”
Are you talking about my telekinesis? Actually, I can’t fly. The limit was that it was slightly floating. In order to be able to fly freely with telekinesis, a few more characteristics were needed.
“I’m not good at flying, I can only float, but I’ll practice a little more and when I can fly, I’ll let you experience it.”
“Really?”
Even though she said she couldn’t fly yet, Risa Minamoto spoke to me as if she was excited. It seemed like he definitely thought I could fly.
“That’s why pandas are so cute!”
“Alcapa is the best~!”
The remaining students who liked small animals were healing while looking at their favorite animals. The beast group’s Seizawa Shii, Kujo Kina, and Naruse Shiyo’s eyes were increasingly shining with anticipation because it was now their turn.
“Okay, let’s move on to the next course.”
Because the time was continuously displayed on the VR device screen, I was able to allocate time appropriately. Next was the Safari Hall, where you could ride a small bus and see and experience wild animals such as lions and tigers.
“Welcome~!”
A guide and bus driver with cyber implants plastered all over his body, typical of New Nanjing City, greeted us. The words were in Chinese, but they were translated and displayed like subtitles on the VR device screen.
Since VR devices provide real-time interpretation, guides said it is convenient these days because they do not have to learn another language. Of course, it is more convenient if you can communicate, so it is said that if you can communicate in the language, you will get paid more.
“It takes a little while to make a full circle~! And even though it’s fixed, you shouldn’t try to force the window to open, okay?”
“Yes~!”
We departed by bus, and the Safari Zone was quite large, so it would take some time to go around it. I responded well to all the guide’s warnings.
The safari hall was divided into sections to prevent wild animals from colliding with each other, but the first section was for wolves.
“Wow~! “It’s a wolf, teacher!”
Since Shiyo Naruse liked strong things, she seemed to like all beasts in general. Shiyo Naruse made a fuss and screamed at me as if to look at me. In fact, she thought that Shiyo Naruse would be the strongest when she transformed, but she has not yet seen Shiyo Naruse transformed properly.
The guide skillfully threw raw chicken into a small crevice to attract the wolves, and we were closely observing the wolves’ eating habits.
After the wolf was a bear, and the bear looked at us and waved his hand. He looked quite cute waving his hand and twitching his butt. Is it because it’s smaller than Han Yu-kyung’s familiar, Teddy?
The guide threw us salmon this time. After seeing the bear eating salmon, we headed to the sector where the tiger was.
“Wow!”
Suddenly, someone who was looking through the window on the other side screamed, and they rushed over to see two tigers mating on a large rock as if looking at them. Is this an exhibitionist tiger…?
“Uh… “I can’t get in the way when I’m doing something big, so I’ll give the tiger food when I get back.”
The guide was flexible, and we quickly crossed the tiger area. Finally, it was the lion area that Seizawa Shii had been waiting for.
“Ryuutachi, my heart is pounding…”
Why do you like lions so much? When Seiza and Shii called me and said their hearts were pounding, an emergency message was sent from the VR device.
Caution! As an infectious disease of unknown cause is occurring, please wait indoors. – New Nanjing Disease Control Department
Shit! It has begun… It was then. The guide, who had been guiding the car well until now, suddenly screamed loudly, twisted his body in a strange way, and started spewing out what was inside.
