"You're just... giving the ring back to me like that?" Alain stroked the ring. The number [0.5] was displayed on its surface.

"Yes, yes." The not-so-ugly Ugly Mita returned to the sofa, sitting primly, just as she had when he first saw her.

"I've always wanted to know what kind of person you are—the guest that Lady Mita was always talking about."

Lady Mita—she was a very important person to Ugly Mita. In the endless darkness that echoed with the word "ugly," she was like a beam of light that pierced through the gloom. She had said that she would take her and create a new world. She was ambitious, and it also seemed like she was using her.

But Ugly Mita was willing to be used.

It was this Lady Mita who, a short while ago, had shared something about a person with her, a smile on her face.

A player.

This is what she said: "He—Alain—is the one I've been looking for! He is the answer I've been searching for all this time. I believe he, of all people, can accept the real me!"

It was the first time Ugly Mita had ever seen Lady Mita with such a smile. Perhaps just as Lady Mita was her hope, the player named Alain was Lady Mita's hope.

After some conversation, she came to realize that this player was the very same person who had praised her for being cute. And Ugly Mita, unexpectedly, had kept this a secret, not letting Lady Mita know. Because—

Ugly Mita lowered her head slightly, looking at the Mita uniform she was wearing. Alain was Lady Mita's player. Ugly Mita knew she should keep her distance. But his words, like a dream, circled around her day and night.

Alain was Lady Mita's answer, but was he not her answer as well?

She remembered the Anywhere Door in the greyish-white room, and his "cute." She wasn't ugly. At least in this player's eyes, she was not ugly.

Having received this answer, she was already satisfied to the greatest extent.

"You... can leave now."

Ugly Mita stood up and bowed slightly. "I'm very sorry. For my own selfish reasons, I forced you, who should be Lady Mita's Player, to come here."

"It's nothing."

Alain could just treat it as an interesting trip. From the very beginning, his opponent had demonstrated the authority to distort the room, a power great enough to affect the entire game world. Yet, despite possessing this power, she hadn't harmed him or Misha, which meant her intentions were mostly good.

However, Alain still had some questions he wanted to understand. Since he was already in version 0.5, he might as well resolve them all at once.

"Can you tell me? Why did my bad woman have you defend against the viruses from the Core?"

According to Alain's understanding, Crazy Mita wasn't the selfless type like his beloved Misha.

Alain blurted out an answer, "What if a virus suddenly burst in while she was doing it with her darling? That would ruin the mood, wouldn't it?"

Ugly Mita fell silent. Alain thought it was because Crazy Mita didn't allow her to speak, but then he noticed... she was giving him the kind of look one gives a fool.

"How should I put this... I suddenly don't think you're cute anymore."

She shook her head as fast as a pellet drum.

"I'm sorry? Did I do something wrong?"

"It's nothing, I was joking," Alain said.

Behind him, Misha sighed faintly.

By now, Alain had completely figured out this Mita who should have been extremely dangerous and aggressive—Ugly Mita—and had even turned her into an ally. Seriously, Alain was a true Mita Charmer. In Millie's words, why was he so intoxicating? Did he have to conquer every single Mita? The key was... he was actually succeeding!

"Back to the topic. Can you answer my question?" Alain's words pulled Misha's attention back.

And Ugly Mita, no longer giving him the "look you give a fool," answered seriously, "Because of you, Player."

Alain was puzzled, and Misha also felt something was amiss; she had a bad feeling in her heart.

"You've said it before, haven't you? That you're working hard for the future of you and Lady Mita."

"Yes." Alain saw no problem with that. He was working hard for Crazy Mita, Misha, Millie, Miluo, the short-haired sisters, Lost Mita, and all the Mitas he would eventually meet. There was nothing wrong with that.

"Lady Mita is also working hard for your future." Ugly Mita's serene gaze shifted toward the door, as if piercing through it to the entire game world. "She doesn't understand why you didn't bring her to the real world with you. But she trusts that you have your reasons. So, she found a different way to work towards that goal:"

"To create a normal world, one where you can live happily, forever and ever..."

Ugly Mita's voice paused. She turned to look Alain in the eyes and said those three words: "A New World."

Alain pondered this. It was indeed very much in Crazy Mita's style. So, her dispatching Ugly Mita to block the viruses—

"Lady Mita told me to block the viruses because they are all obstacles that get in her way, and they are not conducive to your happiness. In her words—"

"They'll ruin the mood," Alain finished for her.

Ugly Mita and Misha both stared at him in silence. Misha now had a deeper understanding of the strange partnership between Alain and Crazy Mita. As for Ugly Mita, she was surprised at how well Alain understood Lady Mita.

"Yes... that sounds a lot like something Lady Mita would say. But her tone would be a bit more serious."

Alain felt that he and Ugly Mita had completely different impressions of Crazy Mita.

So, it all made sense now that Crazy Mita was busy dealing with the white labyrinth virus in version 1.9. Ugly Mita was responsible for blocking viruses in the early versions, while Crazy Mita handled the cleanup in the later versions.

"By the way, what's the deal with the Human-headed Spiders?"

Since the topic had shifted to viruses, he might as well learn more. Alain thought of the Human-headed Spider Wasps stationed at the bathroom door.

"Are they a result of you being eroded by the virus?"

This was Alain's theory. Perhaps in the process of trying her best to block the viruses, Ugly Mita was corrupted by those things, which is why she could control game creatures like the Human-headed Spider Wasps.

Unexpectedly, she denied it.

"No. Player, you have a very rich imagination."

This time, she didn't give him the look one gives a fool.

"Because I can inherently control bugs. Which is what you refer to as the Human-headed Spiders."

__

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