Bad Girl

In the setting of the original game, this was a magic conduit with a peculiar mechanism.

Instead of releasing offensive energy to eliminate monsters, it consumed mana to continuously produce a special high-frequency sound that only monsters could hear.

This sound was designed to mimic the intimidating signal of a powerful monster declaring its territory and driving away weaker creatures, thereby dispersing lower-tier monsters within a certain range.

It was typically used when one needed to quickly pass through a dangerous area or clear out a specific location.

He hadn't connected this item to their current situation earlier because Screech wasn't supposed to appear in Chapter One, and it was closely linked to the story line of the Fourth Heroine, Catherine Roman.

At the beginning of Chapter Two in the game, Victoria would receive an anonymous commission from Catherine to head into the dungeon and test a new type of dispersal magic conduit.

Victoria took the item deep into the dungeon. After activating it in the middle layers, it indeed successfully dispersed the monsters across a large area.

But after entering the deep area, she discovered that while the magic conduit dispersed weaker creatures, the special energy fluctuations it emitted unnaturally attracted higher-tiered, far more dangerous monsters.

As a result, Victoria found herself trapped in a life-or-death struggle, hunted by high-tier monsters in the deep area. She barely managed to escape back to the surface with her life and handed the vital test data over to her client.

It was precisely this risk-filled, unexpected commission that made Catherine—working behind the scenes—notice the astonishing potential and tenacity of the commoner prodigy Victoria for the first time, leading her to calculate how much profit bringing such a talent under her wing could yield.

And thus, Catherine's romance route was unlocked.

But right now, Victoria was still recovering in the hospital, and it was far from Chapter Two of the original game.

Yet the abnormal, eerie silence of the middle layers before him was identical to the situation in Victoria's Chapter Two.

Greg's mind raced, a startling deduction gradually taking shape, causing his heart to sink.

Could it be that before Victoria, Catherine had already commissioned someone else to enter the dungeon and test the magic conduit, except those people failed to escape alive?

With that, the full puzzle behind the dungeon's anomaly came together clearly in Greg's mind.

It seemed those three missing upperclassmen were the unlucky souls chosen for Catherine's secret, initial test of the magic conduit, which also explained why even the Goblins had been scared off into the shallow layers.

If possible, Greg really wanted to turn right around and bolt back to the shallow layers without looking back, leaving this place of trouble behind.

For no other reason than, aside from Silvia who was reasonably good-natured, the other heroines from the original game were each more troublesome and dangerous than the last.

Even in Catherine's ending, she hadn't actually fallen in love with Victoria; she simply chose to stay with her because Victoria brought her greater profits.

This made Greg instinctively want to avoid getting overly entangled with these excessively troublesome heroines.

However, reality gave him no option to run.

His death countdown was still ticking away. If he couldn't conquer the first layer before Chapter One fully concluded, the only thing awaiting him was a death CG.

So no matter whether what lay ahead was a plot, a trap, or something even worse, he could only brace himself and press on.

To steady his mindset, Greg reconsidered the situation:

Wait... maybe things aren't so bad after all?

The effect of Screech was still active, clearing out the middle layers into total silence.

This meant that he and Silvia could pass through this normally dangerous middle section almost unharmed and at top speed, heading straight for the entrance to the deep area.

Once they reached the deep area, all they needed to do was carefully avoid all suspicious movement, refrain from investigating, refrain from causing extra trouble, and head straight for their clear objective—the core area of the first layer, which was the Boss room—to complete the conquest task.

That way, they wouldn't run into the three testers whose fates were unknown, nor would they form any direct or indirect connection with Catherine, who was orchestrating this from behind the scenes.

Absolutely perfect!

Just as Greg was feeling a slightly twisted sense of satisfaction over his genius tactical adjustment and preparing to put this safe, efficient plan into action—

Silvia, who had been curiously observing the glowing plants beside him, suddenly straightened up and shook her head vigorously, as if trying to clear away any idle thoughts.

“No, that's not right...”

She muttered to herself in a low voice, her pink eyes refocusing as she gazed into the darkness deeper down the passage, a look of firm resolve appearing on her face.

“Now isn't the time to let our guard down. There are still three people... who might be trapped in a deeper, more dangerous place, waiting for rescue.”

“Senior Greg has been worrying about their safety all along, which is why he brought me down here in such a rush... Yet I was standing here letting my mind wander on trivial things...”

She turned around, faced Greg, and gave a solemn bow.

“I'm sorry, Senior Greg! I lost my focus. I've composed myself now! Let's hurry forward and head into the deep area to search for them! Saving lives comes first!”

The girl's voice was clear and filled with a sense of mission, ringing out with striking clarity in the silent passage.

That lovely face of hers was filled with the urgency and sincerity of someone desperate to make up for her lapse by throwing herself into a noble rescue operation.

Greg: “...”

For a long moment, all he could do in his heart was silently complain to this pure, unblemished pink-haired girl:

I take back what I said earlier...

Turns out you're a bad girl too!