Mission in another world with my transformed best friend

Upon hearing Zhang Lan give the "correct answer," Wang Kai suddenly realized something, and his long-dormant childhood memories resurfaced.

I vaguely remember when I was a kid, one year on my birthday, my dad secretly brought me back an "imported" genuine Transformers toy, the kind that could be assembled and disassembled. You know, back then, if you suddenly took out such a toy in front of a group of friends, you would definitely be the coolest kid in the whole village.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to show off the toy for long. It was borrowed by some unknown friend and never returned. As a result, Wang Kai got a good beating from his dad, since his dad had spent half a month's worth of "secret money" to buy it...

It was only much later that Wang Kai learned the real reason his father hit him back then; the lost toy wasn't the main reason.

The real reason was that after Dad found out the toy was gone, he blurted out the price of the toy to Mom in his panic. Mom, who controlled the family's finances, immediately sensed the "blind spot" and, after several questions, learned about Dad's "secret stash."

After his poor "little treasure trove" was completely ransacked by his mother, his father, full of resentment and having nowhere to vent, seized the opportunity to give Wang Kai a severe beating under the pretext of "the toy being lost." He really walked right into a trap...

"No wonder I only felt a little familiar at first. It must be because my dad beat me so badly that I didn't dare sit on a chair for half a month. The shock and pain labeled the memory as 'painful,' which made my childhood memories so blurry... Now, when I think of it all, I still feel a kind of phantom pain."

After a few wry laughs, Wang Kai couldn't help but rub his buttocks... He vaguely felt the burning pain from his childhood, and at the same time, he noticed a gaze with a hint of sympathy looking in his direction. But he decided to ignore it for now; things here were more important.

"The hero's name, the hero's squad emblem, and an unknown female priest connected to the 'Demon King's Army.' This is enough to prove one fact... The four heroes, like us, are not from this world. They were all summoned to this world by the so-called 'gods.'"

Listening to Zhang Lan's quiet summary, Wang Kai nodded and quietly echoed her.

“I’ve had this hypothesis for a long time: there must be a reason why the heroes are so powerful. They wiped out the demon king’s army that had threatened the continent for thousands of years in just over a decade. The only explanation is that they, like us, possess ‘cheat-like skills.’ The only thing I don’t know is whether they were teleported here as a whole, or whether, like us, their souls were just transported here and possessed other NPCs…”

"Whether it's 'soul possession' or 'personal time travel,' these two similar methods make it hard not to speculate that the god who summoned the hero is the same god who summoned us..."

"It's quite possible that if we were to compare this world to a certain 'MMORPG'..."

What is 'MMORPG'?

"Oh, it's a 'massively multiplayer online role-playing game,' like the game called 'Legend' that came from South Korea a long time ago and became incredibly popular nationwide. Everyone can connect via the internet to play as a character. The heroes are 'first-time players,' having already acquired incredible power and equipment to defeat the strongest boss. The two of us are just 'second-time players,' starting from the 'second playthrough' that others have already gotten tired of..."

"Wait, wait, let me digest this!"

Zhang Lan rubbed her temples, closed her eyes, and thought for nearly a minute before she could barely understand Wang Kai's rambling "gamer language." Then she made a summary.

"Alright, based on your understanding for now, our most important task is still to gather as much information as possible about the heroes. Regardless of what they did in the 'first playthrough,' now that we're in their 'second playthrough,' what 'game objective' do we need to achieve to clear the game?"

"Yes, on the way back from Katla City, I listened to the coachman's 'heroic tales' for several days in a row. It was like listening to a Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, with so much boasting and embellishment. I couldn't help but doze off for a few days... And judging from the fact that you've only managed to find out one name, the difficulty of 'gathering intelligence' far exceeds our expectations, doesn't it..."

"No matter how difficult it is, we must keep going, even if we can only move forward a little bit each time. One day we will get closer to them, and then... 'defeat them!'"

...Clang~

Suddenly, a metallic thud came from the other side of the dining table. Wang Kai and Zhang Lan looked over at the same time. There was a girl at the table whose gaze had been avoiding theirs. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was Ilya. Ilya froze for a few seconds with her eyes still wandering, then casually bent down to pick up the knife and fork that had fallen to the ground and continued eating the roast chicken...

"This girl isn't very clean; she picks up her knife and fork and doesn't even wipe them before continuing to eat..."

"yes……"

Zhang Lan's brows furrowed slightly...

The pleasant lunchtime quickly came to an end. The girls and two maids cleaned up the restaurant and were about to take their leave when Zhang Lan blocked the entrance and said something.

"You all go and take a nap first, Captain Raffi stays behind..."

Ilya shuddered when her name was called, realizing the impending danger, and could only stand there with her head down. Soon, only she, Zhang Lan, and Wang Kai, who was shaking his head, remained in the restaurant…

Zhang Lan closed the cafeteria door, walked over and invited Ilya to sit down, getting straight to the point.

How much did you overhear?

"Ah, I... I didn't, I only heard a little bit..."

"How much is a little?"

"It's just a little bit, Holy Maiden..."

Wang Kai, who was on the side, readily pulled out an iron rod, slowly circled around behind Ilya, and then deliberately lowered his voice and said.

“If you don’t behave, this time I’ll use a stick to beat your still-swollen area until it’s even more swollen. And please rest assured… this time, absolutely no one will call for ‘reinforcements.’ After all, ‘the Holy Maiden’ is standing right in front of you, understand?”

A chill enveloped Ilya from head to toe, and soon she surrendered completely under the pressure and coercion.

"Hey~ Don't hit me... I admit, I was eavesdropping when you were whispering with the Holy Maiden, and I heard everything last night too."

"Such keen hearing? There were so many people eating just now..."

"As you all know, their profession is 'thief,' and one of their skills is 'eavesdropping'..."

Zhang Lan and Wang Kai exchanged a glance, seemingly asking each other what to do. This was the first time they'd faced such a situation, and they hadn't considered how to handle it before…

"Saintess, Kyle... Brother, you wouldn't... you wouldn't drag me away to 'bury' like you said before dinner, would you? Please don't do that, I beg you, I haven't avenged my parents yet."

Ilya became more and more agitated as she spoke, tears welling up in her eyes. Her whole body trembled slightly. She knew that resistance was futile, after all, the physical trauma and psychological shadow inflicted on her by the iron rod in Wang Kai's hand could not be erased in a short time.

Unfortunately, Wang Kai had never threatened anyone in his life, let alone faced a young girl like this (the previous incident was due to anger and embarrassment), so he could only put away the iron rod, give Zhang Lan a "you decide what to do" look, walk to the side with his arms crossed, and decide to observe for a while before making a decision.