[Sword Art Online] Qing Tong

Christmas Eve came so slowly.

The fluffy snowflakes are flying down little by little, and the town square on the 49th floor of Miaozhen is full of joyful atmosphere, ribbons are fluttering, and countless people are celebrating each other under the huge Christmas tree. The happy scene seems to be exactly the same as in reality.

Humans are extremely adaptable creatures.

Leaning against a corner of the square early in the morning, silently staring at this complicated place under the hood, as if it was a part of the cold stone building.

"Then, what do you want to tell me? I'm a busy informant, so you can skip the chatter."

At some point, a girl with yellow hair and mouse makeup who was also wrapped under a hood appeared beside her and asked in a low voice, her tone full of sarcasm.

"Argo, tonight you and someone agreed to exchange information for the last time here."

"Hehe, are you kidding me? How could Argo the mouse do some secret business in such a lively place..." The yellow-haired girl raised the corners of her mouth, and spoke very naturally to refute the early morning statement.

"I don't have time to joke with you, or are you questioning my ability? You know, no matter what kind of identity I am, no matter what kind of thing, as long as I think, the intelligence information I can collect is not efficient. What you can imagine." Early in the morning, he put aside Argo's cover-up sharply, and his tone was still calm and confident.

There was silence.

"Hehe, you really deserve to be Lilith, the Queen of Efficiency." The mouse girl sighed with emotion, "Even so, you don't want to get any information from my employer..."

"There are only a few places where the fir trees are roughly sure to appear." Early in the morning, he interrupted the other party in a low voice, "However, in the past two days, several guilds suddenly obtained a piece of information that can be tracked. What is it? I haven't inquired about it yet, it seems to be information that can guarantee the highest probability of tracking results..."

"You mean..." Argo hesitated for a moment, then looked at the hooded girl next to him.

"I don't care what kind of relevant information you have sold before, the principle of the intelligence provider must be unbreakable, so now, I just ask you to transfer this information to him without any reservations." Early in the morning, he slowly retracted and hugged his chest She quietly squinted her eyes and looked at the dark sky.

"Why don't you personally..." Argo suddenly raised his head, and brought back his soft voice, "I can't guarantee that I won't take this opportunity to make a big deal, after all, it's such a good opportunity to make money~"

"Whatever you want, this is already beyond my request." Early in the morning, he tightened his scarf, left the corner, and disappeared into the crowd.

It was not until a long time after walking out of Argo and the square in the middle of the street that I stood firm on the sparsely populated roads outside early in the morning.

The light reflected from the ground in the dark sky was smeared with light red traces, and the snowflakes appeared and fell silently.

Just, that's fine, no matter what purpose he is trying to grab that item, no matter why he is still hard to let go of which girl, he will do his best to use the little bit of strength he can...

However, every time I think of these things, and think of the person Kirito has been obsessed with for so long, I still feel...

This is really, a ridiculous girly plot.

"You've been too messy in leveling recently." Argo the mouse leaned on the back of the landscape chair, and spit out words that seemed to be chatting nonchalantly.

"Is there any new information?" Kirito made a voice of extreme fatigue, and his voice was hoarse.

"It's all worthless information." Argo also had a trace of helplessness on his face.

"Then your reputation as an informant will be ruined."

"After all, this is a new activity that has never happened during the beta test period. I don't think it is possible to collect information." Argo shook his head, "[Nicola's big bag is full of all kinds of treasures... ...even props that can pull people's souls back] With such rumors, even many large guilds are looking for it.”

Kirito didn't speak, and stood up straight, ready to leave.

"Hey, you actually already have your own eyebrows." Argo hesitated with a baby voice, "Wait a minute."

"What else?"

"There is information that recently some guilds suddenly got a tracking clue."

"Oh?"

"Well, it doesn't seem to be the specific location where Nicholas appeared, but it is basically a tracking clue that can guarantee the successful tracking of Nicholas." Argo said slowly, "Isn't it because your recent movements are a little too big?" .”

"Maybe."

After leaving such a sentence, the silent black figure slowly disappeared at the corner of the street.

"Really, one and two look like this!" Argo complained in a low voice, looked around, and then disappeared into the street.

In the early morning, it was midnight before arriving at the place where Nicholas actually appeared.

Maybe it's capricious, maybe it's stubbornness, maybe it's just holding on to the resentment towards Kirito for a long time, and she didn't go after Kirito early in the morning, even though she knew deeply in her heart that this was the most correct choice.

When she realized what she had done early in the morning, she had already followed the crowd to the intelligence floor.Several trade unions who arrived in advance sent people to firmly block the surrounding area. Countless people with different purposes who wanted to grab a bargain and watch the fun gathered around the periphery, talking nonsense about "absolutely impossible to get" while Excitedly waiting for the real winner to be announced.

What am I doing...

Standing quietly among the crowd early in the morning, without talking, sighing, or laughing at yourself, just staring blankly at all the people with different expressions.

How did I appear here...

"It's almost 12 o'clock~"

"Yes, I really don't know what kind of treasures will appear in Nicholas' big bag~"

"Well, even if there are some rare treasures, they probably won't fall into our hands! By the way, there are so many top guilds here!"

"Yeah, I seem to have seen the shining Asuna!"

"Eh?! Have you seen her?!"

"That's right! When I had a guide, I followed it to see it, but I caught a glimpse of it. I really thought the place was beautiful!"

"Really?! I thought it was just someone else's rumor. There are very few girls in the game, and the beautiful ones are even rarer!"

The noisy news exploded in my ears, and just a little gossip would attract a lot of people's heated discussions. Everyone became more leisurely, muddling through their already dull life.

Am I just waiting here for a verdict?I……

"Dang, clang, clang..." A total of 12 bells echoed throughout the floating castle of SAO, and everyone eagerly looked around, wanting to see a little sign of the arrival of the special boss.

However, there was silence.

"How is this going?"

"Where is the promised monster? Why doesn't it seem to appear..."

"Could it be drilled directly from the ground..."

Suddenly, there was an exclamation.

"Nicholas is not here! In the forest on the 39th floor!!"

"what?!"

"No way? Were everyone deceived by the informant?!"

"Hahaha, don't those top guilds come here and get nothing, hahaha~"

There was a messy sound like an explosion, and words of ridicule and regret continued one after another. At first some people left bored, and of course some people who wanted to take advantage of it immediately rushed to the transfer crystal, wanting to rush to the major guilds to respond. Go ahead and get a piece of the action.

Early in the morning, he opened his friend list in a daze, and habitually opened the item page shared with Kirito. There, the two of them irregularly put some healing, recovery medicine, various crystals, and even some spare hidden weapons, but since then After being separated once, the two subconsciously didn't touch each other.

But now, there seems to be a lot less...

At this time, early in the morning, I didn't take a second look, and didn't go into it. I just opened up the partner status. At the beginning, I set the personal status to be visible to each other, but now——

Pupils shrink early in the morning.

Why is there less than a quarter of Kirito's blood gauge left, and it is even continuing to decline at a speed visible to the naked eye? !

Could it be that……

The brain quickly flashed through the news that Kirito had purchased all the information about the leader on Christmas Eve from various intelligence merchants, and then imagined the news that Kirito had traveled to all possible places where Nicholas might appear in recent days. Early in the morning My brain went blank as if it had been struck by lightning.

Could it be that... he again...

No, it should be said... According to the rules of his guy, in order to maximize all the chances of victory, he must go alone...

Raid the entire boss.

Suddenly thinking that the only things missing from the public page were some recovery medicines and recovery crystals, I covered my mouth hard early in the morning, and stared as hard as I could.

"Woo... cough cough... um..."

He ran quickly, not minding the shocked eyes of ordinary public players around him, and ran towards the direction of the transfer crystal vigorously. He didn't know how many people he bumped into in the middle, and how many curses appeared behind him. He continued to run as if he didn't hear it early in the morning with.

"No.30 Nine Floors! Semigino!"

After the brilliant light, he opened the friend list early in the morning, quickly activated the tracking skills, and rushed straight to the direction Kirito showed...

"Early morning...Kirito...Kirito..." The red-haired scimitar, who was walking slowly and supported by others, had a crystal light in his eyes again when he saw the early morning.

Qingchen glanced at the shining Kirito's name on the list again, and the blood tank was restored to the safe line. Qingchen slowly breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the group of people in distress.

"What's going on? Has the leader been attacked by others?"

"No...Kirito got it...but...but..." The red-haired Klein sighed heavily, and took out a bleak item.

【...within ten seconds...】

"Is that so..." Early in the morning withdrew the detection skills dejectedly, and handed the thing back, "Then Kirito..."

"Let's go, I'm afraid he will..." Klein couldn't continue speaking in a low voice, but both of them understood the meaning.

"How long will I have to wear this shackle..." Looking at the other people who were obviously in a mess early in the morning, he nodded his head, "I'll go find him, take your things and leave quickly, those who found the wrong place will soon be gone!" I found it."

"I know...you guys...take care of yourselves early in the morning!" Klein no longer hesitated, he was no longer alone, and he lived under more pressure as he shouldered the fate of an entire team.

In the early morning, he continued to run forward until he found Kirito in a hotel located on the outermost edge.

At that time, because it was a rental hotel set by the system, it was an indestructible existence, so early in the morning, he could only stand outside and shout Kirito's name desperately.

After a long time, Tong opened the door.

"Kirito..."

The young swordsman with his head bowed deeply appeared at the dark doorway with deep despair and depression, and the lights in the room were obviously not turned on.

"I...just want...to see her again...even if I can only hear her last words clearly...even if it's to accept her last resentment...I didn't succeed..." The young man buried his head deeply, his weak voice gradually Choked up, "But...why...why...I received this thing...let me know...even if it was burned alive by the system for ten seconds...she said to me...but, but... ..."

"Thank you...how shameless I am!"

Looking at Kirito who was blaming him vigorously in front of him early in the morning, he finally hugged his weak shoulders.

"That's because...she thanked you from the bottom of her heart...she really wants you to live!"

The boy's heart, which had been suffering for half a year, was finally broken again. In the early morning, he didn't even have the strength to comfort him. Perhaps, for a strong man like Kirito, the most terrifying thing about SAO is not the threat of infinitely close to death, but— —

When I survived, there was no one around me.

So, fortunately, Kirito, you are still alive, and we are all still alive.

In the night sky, once again bright meteors flashed past briefly.

Goodbye,

those lost lives...