Chapter Thirty: Trifles of the Chat Group

Lu Mingfei has yet to join Cassell College. He is currently a high school senior, nearly eighteen years old and yet to take the college entrance exam. He remains at his private school, spending his days attending classes, teasing his cousin on QQ, and lurking in online chat groups with little else going on.

Tokisaki Kurumi, using intelligence provided by Chen Mo, has located Shido Itsuka, the protagonist of Date A Live. However, since Shido has not yet met Yatogami Tohka, the timeline of the story has yet to begin.

Han Li, having recently formed his Gold Core, is currently in the Chaotic Star Sea and is anxious about refining his magical treasures. He had originally planned to assist the Myriad Sound Sect to obtain Golden Lightning Bamboo, but after gaining access to the chat group and realizing the danger involved, he abandoned the idea of getting entangled in that mess.

Aqua seems to have just defeated a demon general—a Dullahan—but due to her own stellar performance (or perhaps the influence of a certain hellish demon), she and her party are now saddled with a massive debt, which they are currently struggling to pay off.

Emiya Shirou is still some time away from the Holy Grail War. To compensate for his lack of strength, he is training diligently, persistently going to the sports field every day to practice high jumps and improve his physical fitness.

Valmont is, as always, searching for talismans. Despite having the guidance of someone who knows the plot of the anime, his operations are repeatedly thwarted, and the talismans he finds are always snatched away by a certain Jackie Chan.

Kaguya Houraisan is indeed the Kaguya Houraisan of Gensokyo. She does not possess the personality of a NEET princess and seems closer to her original characterization. However, she rarely leaves her home, so she is unaware of the current timeline in Gensokyo, knowing only that the "Imperishable Night" incident caused by Eientei occurred some time ago.

The group file section contains secret manuals uploaded by members, such as Han Li's Blink Sword Technique, Smoke Steps, and Everlasting Spring Arts; Emiya Shirou's methods for learning Projection Magic; and Kaguya Houraisan's methods for spiritual power cultivation and spell card production. Members are free to view and study these as they please.

Currently, however, the only ones benefiting from these manuals seem to be Emiya Shirou and Tokisaki Kurumi. Lu Mingfei’s world lacks spiritual energy, and he has no time to study due to his studies. Kaguya Houraisan has no need for such things, and Valmont is simply uninterested.

The members frequently trade among themselves. Most of the time, Kaguya Houraisan commissions them to collect items she desires, such as the Realizer units from Tokisaki Kurumi’s world, the exorcism tools crafted by Aqua, or the various rare treasures from Han Li’s world. She has even traded some of her own secret treasures and medicines from Eirin Yagokoro for a portion of the spirit liquid from Han Li's Mysterious Heavenly Bottle, claiming it was for Eirin’s experiments.

As it stands, Kaguya Houraisan is the most active trader in the group. She is deeply interested in treasures from other worlds and possesses vast wealth. She is captivated not only by high-level supernatural items from Kurumi’s and Han Li’s worlds but also by the modern technological products from the worlds of Lu Mingfei and Emiya Shirou. Recently, she even became obsessed with the electronics from Lu Mingfei’s world.

However, once Chen Mo returns to the Main God Space, the title of "most active trader" will likely shift to him. His identity as a reincarnator backed by the Main God Space, which can provide infinite treasures, is his greatest advantage in the chat group.

[Lu Mingfei: Hey, is anyone here good at math? Can you help me solve a few problems?]
[Lu Mingfei: #Image of math problems]

[Emiya Shirou: @_@ These problems are so profound, I don't understand them at all.]
[Tokisaki Kurumi: My apologies, I don't quite understand them either.]
[Lu Mingfei: It's fine, you guys weren't exactly set up as academic geniuses anyway.]
[Lu Mingfei: @Chen Mo, brother, help me out!]
[Chen Mo: You were calling me 'foster father' just two days ago.]
[Chen Mo: Let me see... wait, this image... why does it look like problems from an exam paper?]
[Chen Mo: Damn it, you’re cheating in public, aren't you?]
[Lu Mingfei: Oh, ever since I got the chat group, I thought my 'golden finger' had finally arrived. I’ve been busy binge-reading all your source materials to get to know you guys, so...]
[Chen Mo: So you haven't been studying at all, huh? 눈_눈]
[Lu Mingfei: ...Yes. _(:3」∠❀)_]
[Lu Mingfei: So, foster father, save me!]
[Chen Mo: You could call me 'Grandpa' and it wouldn't matter, because I don't know how to do them either.]
[Lu Mingfei: Seriously? You’re a university student, and you can't solve these high school senior problems?]
[Chen Mo: Ever since I became a university student, I’ve returned all my knowledge to my teachers. Forget high school senior problems; even if you asked me to solve a middle school problem right now, I’d struggle to write it down.]
[Lu Mingfei: Damn, your knowledge decay rate is way too fast!]

[Chen Mo: It can’t be helped, that’s just how university students are... at least that’s how I and those around me are.]
[Lu Mingfei: Damn it! If I had known, I would have just honestly practiced the Everlasting Spring Arts; at least that would have given me a memory buff!]
[Kaguya Houraisan: Hmm, this looks quite simple? If you just list the formula here... (Explanation)... and then substitute it like this... (Explanation)... the answer comes right out.]
[Lu Mingfei: Wow, wow, wow! As expected of the Moon Princess, truly profound knowledge!]
[Lu Mingfei: In that case, please help me with these problems too! I really can't solve a single one!]
[Kaguya Houraisan: Sure, I’m quite idle right now, so I’ll help you out.]

For now, the members of the chat group are relatively friendly. When someone encounters difficulties, most are willing to offer help if they have the capacity, whether out of kindness or for their own purposes.

The only one who could be considered a villain, Valmont, is actually viewed by the others with surprising neutrality. As for Tokisaki Kurumi, since no one yet knows her true colors, no one treats her as a villain.

As for Chen Mo, who does know her true colors, he doesn't mind much. Although he isn't particularly fond of her, he has accepted much of her help; his ability to safely survive the events of Skyline was largely thanks to the clones Kurumi provided.

Therefore, even if Kurumi is a sinner, he won't say anything... He will just have to see if he can use the chat group's capabilities to help Tokisaki Kurumi achieve her ideal—reversing the world's timeline and rewriting the sins she has committed.

Chatting with the group members and with his teammates from the North Ice Continent Team in the safe house, the time remaining for the main quest—surviving for seven days—is now down to the final half-day.

It is the dead of night, two o'clock in the morning. In about fourteen hours, they will be able to return safely to the Main God Space.

Everyone from the North Ice Continent Team is asleep, as are the story characters. Only Chen Mo quietly slips out of the safe house and onto the streets of Los Angeles, which have already been overrun by aliens.