Chapter 1

"..." In a room, a young man was operating a computer. On the screen was a program, and on the program's interface was an umbrella.

"Tap tap, tap tap." Agile fingers tapped on the keyboard, continuously inputting information. One data point after another appeared next to the diagram of the umbrella.

When the keyboard was finally struck heavily to save the work, the young man let out a long breath and pressed the confirm button.

"Simulation starting, please wait. Remaining items to check: 444,938,012. Estimated time: 8 minutes 40 seconds, 2 hours 52 minutes, 1 day 15 hours."

"Ring!" The doorbell behind the young man suddenly rang.

"Huh?" The young man glanced at his watch in surprise, then realized. "Oh, right... it's time to pick up the goods."

"Which number?" Opening the door, the young man examined the visitor while asking. "Oh, it's you, Vodka. Let me think, if you're here to pick up, it should be..."

"Number 9 and 17." Outside the door, Vodka handed over two number plates. "I always deliver as soon as possible, isn't it to secure these two numbers for me and the boss? Ice Wine, you're really forgetful."

"Hmm, but speaking of which," Ice Wine took the number plates, opened two drawers from a nearby cabinet, and handed two pistols to the muscular man. "Tell the boss, the guns are new. The previous one was worn out and hard to repair to its original precision. He should use less expanded ammunition with the handgun, otherwise, this gun might not last as long in his hands as it did in mine."

"You know the boss's temperament. Expanded ammunition is powerful, and it can damage the barrel... but you're still here, right!" Vodka shrugged, took the guns, glanced at them, and then looked up. "What about the grip of this new gun?"

"Exactly the same as the previous one. I made a mold twice and directly replicated it. Don't worry!" Ice Wine leaned against the cabinet and smiled. "The last time we changed the gun, I made the grip and gave it to him, you just weren't there."

"To be honest, you're much better than your master," Vodka couldn't help but praise. "No wonder you're only 17 and already have such expertise in firearms, and even got a codename."

"Flattery," Ice Wine was speaking when he saw Vodka hand him a small wooden box. "What's this?"

"Final medication, the latest development." Vodka handed the box to Ice Wine, opened his suit, and showed him the medication he had prepared for himself. "This new medication takes effect quickly after consumption and has effects similar to a normal heart attack."

"Oh... new medication?" Ice Wine opened the small box and saw a red and white capsule lying quietly inside. "Do I need to return the old medication?"

"Keep it yourself. After all, it's useless to return it, and in case of danger, the old medication might save your life."

"Alright, then I'll continue working." Ice Wine put the medication in his inner pocket and said.

Vodka didn't say anything, closed the door, and his footsteps quickly disappeared outside.

"Yawn" Ice Wine suddenly yawned. "Ah... not good, I haven't slept since 6 AM yesterday to model that umbrella... I'll take a nap... right, the ones who haven't picked up their guns are..."

His gaze scanned the codenames marked on the locked drawers of the cabinet. "Number 4 is Kiel's pen gun, Number 7 is Bourbon's pistol, Number 19 is Umeshu's scope..."

Ice Wine placed the sniper rifle, pistol, and scope outside the door, left a note for the visitors to come in directly if they had any other business, and then lay down in the armchair, lowered the backrest, and fell asleep.

The dream is told from the first-person perspective.

My name is Tachibana Chiharu. Yes, my surname is Tachibana, and it's the same as the character from the game "Samurai Shodown" who was released in early 1994. However, this is just a coincidence. The reason I have this surname is due to my background.

I was originally named Matsudaira Chiharu, a name given to me by my parents... Yes, I have never seen my parents since I was a child. My master, who has passed away, raised me and taught me his mechanical skills. After his death, I inherited his work. The specific content of the work is to repair or replace the firearms and other items delivered daily. The reason I changed my surname to Tachibana is because of a rule in the master's lineage: the skills are only passed to orphans, and orphans must change their surname to Tachibana to honor the founder of the mechanical skills, Tachibana Takekage.

My interpersonal relationships are almost non-existent; I can only say that I have a good relationship with a few people who frequently come to repair tools. My hobby is doing my job, which is researching mechanical skills, like the one I'm calculating on the computer...

The dream was suddenly cut off. A cloth was pressed hard against Tachibana Chiharu's mouth and nose.

"Mmm!!! Mmm!!!" Chiharu's hands struggled desperately but could not break free from the attacker's hands pressing the cloth. The feedback from the struggle was the sensation of plastic.

"Die in peace!" In the struggle, these words reached Chiharu's ears. "Traitor to the organization!"

A traitor to the organization? Is this a cop? No, my workplace is in the core area of this base; there shouldn't be any warning outside.

The chaotic thoughts eventually disappeared along with the struggle.

"Hmph!" After confirming that Chiharu was unconscious, the attacker's lips curled into a sneer. He searched Chiharu's body, took out the small wooden box, and fed the medication inside to Chiharu. He then poured water from a nearby cup into Chiharu's mouth. In a shallow coma, there is a swallowing reflex and some consciousness. In the original story, Kudo Shinichi was also fed the medication in this state because moderate or deeper comas do not have a swallowing reflex.

"Whirr, whirr, whirr" The fax machine next to Chiharu's seat suddenly started spitting out paper, which fell to the ground under the attacker's watchful eye.

"Farewell, disappointed one. Your story would be a treasure to Dazai Osamu." Author: Dazai Osamu, a Japanese writer known for his love stories.

The attacker threw the paper and the empty wooden box on the ground next to Chiharu, placed the water cup on the table within Chiharu's reach, and then quietly left.

Fifteen minutes later, in the fire control room of the building.

"Hmm!" A shadow turned a dial and then quietly left.

Returning to reality from the void.

The entire body felt as if it was in a massage tub filled with water, feeling both the warmth enveloping the body and the gentle massage.

The body felt like it was in paradise, but the eyes saw the flames of hell. The eighteenth level of hell, the deepest and most severe.

The red flames stung Chiharu's slightly opened eyes. In the corner of his vision, a red devil symbolizing destruction was dancing wildly.

Looking up at the ceiling, a sprinkler head was staring back at him indifferently. The sprinkler head was connected to a pump, which should have done something in this crisis!

"Why isn't it responding... it's clearly on fire!" Chiharu tried to get up but felt his clothes were abnormally heavy.

"Ugh..." Struggling to turn over, Chiharu looked at his oversized clothes in confusion. "What's going on?"

As soon as he said this, Chiharu was stunned. His voice was different, much clearer, because...

What am I thinking... Chiharu shook his head. At this moment, the priority should be to escape from this place filled with smoke and flames that could kill him at any moment, but how?

Garbage chute? It's too difficult to fit through.

Front door? No way, the smoke is seeping in from the door crack, which is glowing red from the fire outside. Opening the door is a dead end.

Everyone dies, some lighter than a feather, some heavier than a mountain. Is my life a feather or a mountain? He laughed bitterly.

"Beep beep beep!" The black screen of the computer suddenly emitted a pleasant ring, the sound indicating the completion of the simulation program. The umbrella's test was divided into three stages, theoretically ringing three times.

If it was the third ring, he must have been unconscious for at least two days. How could he have been unconscious here for so long without being discovered? Besides, he didn't feel hungry.

If it was the first ring, the computer's black screen time was set to 15 minutes, so it shouldn't be in black screen mode.

So, this is the ring after completing the necessary checks. If he couldn't get out alive, at least he should see how far his work had progressed.

When Chiharu staggered to his feet, he realized he had to look up at the computer, which was about 1.2 meters high. Was he smaller? From the sound, he seemed to have turned into a child?

Forget it... don't think about it. Even if he was a character from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (1989, directed by Joe Johnston), where the main character shrinks his two children and their neighbors to a quarter of their size, the most important thing now was to get out alive.

Wearing oversized clothes, Chiharu slowly walked to the computer and set the program to save the results to his organization's large email account. It was only a few dozen megabytes, but it was quite impressive at the time. He wasn't sure if there were public email providers that offered such large accounts, as even in 2001, 163 in China only offered paid accounts with 200 megabytes.

After setting it up, Chiharu glanced at the slowly spreading flames, took off his outer clothes, and went to the garbage chute.

"Hmm..." Smelling the odor, Chiharu frowned. "Fortunately, most of what I usually throw away are clean food containers, so there's not much smell..."

Using his back and feet to brace against the garbage chute, Chiharu slowly slid down and soon reached the garbage exit.

The sound of sirens restrained Chiharu's urge to go out. A fire should attract firefighters, but what were the sirens? Police? Was the target the organization he was in?

After confirming that there were no police near the garbage exit, Chiharu slipped out of his workplace and escaped through the alley.