Ch.351[Chapter 351] Event: Race (WRATH)

As the race was in full swing, a countermeasure committee was established at the train station.

Coders from System Industries, officials from the Executive branch, and station attendants from the train station discussed the current situation.

“This seems like a provocation against our Gachaland.”

One of the coders said.

“How do you know that?”

A seemingly high-ranking official among the civil servants questioned.

“Our coders have checked the logs for the train station’s entry registry. And this is the list of people who came and went through the train station yesterday and today.”

The coder held a stack of papers in one hand and pointed to a section with his other finger.

“And if you look at this part, you can see that a portion of the log has been very clumsily cut out.”

While other coders nodded at the presenting coder’s words, the people from the Executive branch and the station attendants couldn’t find anything strange no matter how much they looked at the paper.

No, the entire paper looked strange.

All sorts of weird languages were written there.

“Please explain more simply.”

Finally, one of the officials who couldn’t stand it anymore spoke up.

“We can’t see the essence of Gachaland like you people can.”

At the official’s words, the coder made an expression of sudden realization.

He had forgotten that while these simple codes were like everyday phrases such as ‘Hello?’ or ‘Have you been eating well?’ to coders, they sounded like alien language to others.

Coders rarely met people other than fellow coders due to their frequent overtime work, so this situation was quite unfamiliar to them.

“Well, to put it simply, someone tampered with the entry registry.”

“Ah, now I understand.”

The people from the Executive branch finally let out a deep sigh of relief that had been stuck just below their solar plexus.

“But how does that constitute a provocation against Gachaland?”

One of the officials said.

“Rather than cutting it out so clumsily, it’s more common to naturally fill in fake information. To make it less noticeable, you know. But the culprit cut out the log data in such a mess. As if challenging us to find them.”

“Ah.”

The official let out a sigh at the coder’s words.

According to the coder, the person who messed up the event had deliberately left evidence of their coming and going.

“But is there a way to check the logs from that time?”

“It’s possible, but data that’s been torn away like this is difficult to recover. Probably at least ten days—”

“Excuse me for interrupting…”

The officials and coders were trying to use the missing data as evidence to advance their investigation.

At that moment, one of the station attendants raised his hand.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing major. It’s just…”

The station attendant hesitated for a moment, then finally said what he wanted to say.

“We have surveillance camera footage on our end. Couldn’t we check that?”

The station attendant pointed to the surveillance cameras installed throughout the area.

At those words, the coders and officials wore blank expressions.

Unexpectedly, the crucial evidence that could resolve the case was close at hand.

…

Shifting the scene back to the Matsuri.

“Danger!”

Sir Dominic spotted the incoming shell and quickly moved the spider tank to block it.

Sir Dominic’s defensive technique was so precise and skilled that he succeeded in blocking the shell, but the explosion was even larger than expected.

The flames of the explosion not only engulfed Sir Dominic but also affected the wheels of the Matsuri.

The wheels twisted instantly, and the train began to stagger on the tracks.

“Ugh!”

Unryu Hime urgently began repairing the train, but it wobbled precariously between the tracks as if about to flip over.

This happened because the Matsuri’s durability was very low.

However, it was fortunate that thanks to Sir Dominic’s damage reduction effect, it wasn’t shattered in one hit like other trains.

Normally, the Matsuri would have already been split into fragments rolling on the ground.

The response that followed Sir Dominic’s damage reduction effect and Hime’s emergency measures was successful, and the Matsuri’s movement stabilized.

However, if this happened one more time, there was no telling what would happen to the Matsuri.

“Tunnel ahead!”

Had the goddess of fortune come to their aid?

Hime finally passed through the last section of the downhill and entered the tunnel section.

The tunnel was too narrow to fire shells.

In other words, they didn’t have to worry about incoming shells while running here.

“…Phew.”

Hime let out a sigh of relief after overcoming the crisis.

Only after her mind and body stabilized could she think of who might be firing such shells.

It was her younger brother Tsuki and his train, the Yukionna.

“Tsuki…!”

Hime thought that when this race ended, she would have to settle the hierarchy with Tsuki once more.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, I’m fine. How about you, Sir Dominic?”

“I’m fine too.”

“Would you ask if I’m okay too?”

The Matsuri proceeded slowly inside the tunnel.

Having just experienced such dangerous situations consecutively, Hime wanted to charge her special skill before continuing.

“Well, I’m glad everyone’s alright.”

Sir Dominic rode the spider tank alongside the Matsuri.

The tunnel wasn’t particularly long, so they would soon have to go outside again.

Sir Dominic and Hime raised their body’s tension to be aware of the variables and checks that might fly again.

And then, a system window appeared before people’s eyes.

Without any warning.

…

[We apologize to everyone enjoying the race.]

[We inform you that due to an issue with the current race, this race has been invalidated.]

[We apologize for the inconvenience caused by our management negligence—]

“What! What is all this!”

“No, why?”

People gathered at the Gachaland train station murmured.

The message that appeared on the system window for everyone here was that shocking.

Those who saw the system window were divided into roughly three groups.

Those worried about compensation.

“T-tokens? What happens to the tokens?”

“I bet my entire fortune!”

“ALL or NOTHING!!!”

These people weren’t simply afraid of their tokens evaporating.

What they feared was the opportunity cost—the chance to make several times their investment if they were lucky.

Losing that opportunity cost was what they feared.

Fortunately, their complaints were the first to be quelled.

The system window that appeared again clearly specified compensation for this.

[The tokens you used to support will be returned at 1.2 times the original amount—]

“Ah, that’s fine then.”

“Hmph. I could have made twice as much, but I have to be satisfied with just 20%?”

“I can use this to bet on the next race!”

Everyone had different levels of satisfaction, but generally, people in this category were satisfied with this compensation plan and calmed down.

The second category was people who came to enjoy the race itself.

“No, we came to watch the race! It’s not raining, there’s no natural disaster, so why end the race? No! I can’t end it! I can’t end it like this!”

“Do you know how rare it is to see Red Arrow’s race this close?”

These people weren’t pacified by the first compensation plan.

Most of them didn’t care whether they got their tokens back or not.

They were people whose joy in life was watching their supported team race smoothly.

Fortunately, the second compensation plan proposed by the system window pacified about half of their complaints.

[We will refund this ticket, and if you wish, you can exchange it for a ticket to the next race—]

“N-next race, huh.”

“When was Red Arrow’s next race again?”

“Not bad for something declared invalid.”

“No, how can they just end the race so suddenly!”

Of course, there were those who weren’t satisfied with the compensation plan, but they were a small minority.

The minority who still had complaints wanted to shout for the race to resume immediately, but they were conscious of others’ gazes and just grumbled to themselves.

And the final category was the teams directly participating in the race.

With only five teams remaining, these five teams received a different message than the spectators.

[Receiving voice message…]

A voice message immediately popped up.

[“Ah, ah. Can you hear me? This is the Emergency Countermeasure Committee.”]

[“First, I apologize for contacting you so urgently.”]

[“There was an accident where the event race scheduled for tomorrow was moved to today.”]

[“We believe this was an intentional crime and have been investigating.”]

[“We’ve finally identified the culprit and discovered that they tampered with the Kraken meant for the event.”]

[“The culprit is currently being pursued, but the Kraken is the problem now.”]

[“We’d like to handle the Kraken ourselves, but it has already escaped our control. We don’t know what was done to the Kraken, but it seems only personnel inside the race can intervene.”]

[“If the Kraken isn’t dealt with, the train station will have to be closed. We desperately need your help.”]

The voice message ended there.

More precisely, there was a distant shout afterward saying they had found the culprit’s whereabouts, but it wasn’t particularly meaningful in the current situation.

After the voice message, a new system window appeared before them.

It was an emergency quest window to overcome this situation.

[[!]Emеrgency Quest: Subdue the rаmpaging Krаken.]

[Reward: To be discussed later]

The message was sent so urgently that typos were visible throughout.

Those who first saw this message even briefly wondered if it was a bug.

Anyway, the racers who saw this voice message and system message began to think different thoughts.

Yes, different thoughts indeed.