So I became a witch

"……Owner?"

"I'm sorry, I promised your mother to protect you, so let me do this kind of dangerous thing."

"...I can't understand it. Obviously, I am the master's servant."

"That's why I'm not a servant." I patted Ariel's head lightly, and an incomprehensible light flashed in her eyes, "We are comrades."

"Comrade...comrade?"

"That's right, like-minded partners who came together to achieve the same goal. Although my body has become like this now, at least I have experience in driving Dragon Knight many times, so there should be no problem. .But if something happens, I will have to trouble you.”

"……learn."

"Then what am I supposed to do? There's no connecting pod available here."

"It's okay...just hold my hand."

"Is that so?" I gently held Ariel's hand, the cold feeling reminded me of a machine, but compared to when I first met her, it seemed a little warmer.

"That's right, next, please close your eyes, just like in Dragon Knight, and imagine that you are about to 'dive' into this ocean of information."

I honestly did what Ariel said.Relax your body, empty your mind, and focus on sinking yourself into a deeper abyss.Dive in, dive in... just go deeper.

In order to be able to get a glimpse of the "truth".

"Ariel?" I called softly.

No one answered.I opened my eyes slightly, shocked by the sight in front of me.

The sky is blue, and at the junction of the distant skyline, the sky-high waterfalls slant down, creating rainbows.Surrounded by clouds and mist, high-rise buildings are surrounded by trees, streets are covered by rivers and grasslands, green and gray are intertwined, nature and human civilization are integrated together.

I walked quietly on the grassy asphalt road, carefully avoiding the intertwined vines.The scene in front of me reminded me of the appearance of the remaining buildings after humans disappeared from the world for thousands of years in "Neil: Automata".The surroundings are eerily quiet, with no human voices, no birdsong, only my own heartbeat, beating quietly in the silent ruins.

Chapter 47 Goals

"Here is the complex database of the 'Star System'..."

In order to effectively avoid the monitoring of the star system, we finally chose the "recycle bin" of the system as the intrusion point.A large amount of useless data generated during the operation of the system will be temporarily stored in this recycle bin, waiting for a long time for a thorough cleaning.In my impression, the last cleaning was the night when I just entered school, so at least now I don't have to worry about the risk of being formatted with other garbage.

However, at first I thought that since it was a "garbage dump", it should be full of all kinds of disordered 0 and 1 information, but it turned out to be a fantasy world beyond my expectations.

"Master... people..." Ariel's voice rustled into my ears, making me realize that now is not the time for me to appreciate the scenery, and I have more important missions to do.

"Well, I can hear it. It seems that I have successfully entered the star system."

"Yes...the current location of the master...the recycle bin...Next, I will navigate and track that piece of stray information for you." Ariel's voice gradually became clearer, it seemed that she had accepted me After receiving the signal, connect the channel.

"Then I will trouble you, but if you do this, won't you be discovered by the star system?"

"Yes, because what I am using now is still the SS-level account held by the vice principal, which is enough to control the system to a certain extent. However, please be careful, master. Dangers identified by the firewall."

"Ah, I understand."

"So, first of all, the driving tool is being generated for you." Ariel's voice fell, and immediately the space around me began to distort, decomposed and reconstructed by countless tiny pixels, forming a dark motorcycle, "The navigation device has been connected , please use it yourself."

Indeed, as she said, the moment I stepped on the motorcycle, a projection screen popped up in front of me, recording my current location with red dots, and showing the goal of our trip with constantly beating yellow dots .

"Good luck, it seems to be not far from me."

"Yes. But please also be careful, if it escapes into other data spaces, it will be troublesome."

"Understood, then, let's go!" After adjusting my sitting posture, I twisted the accelerator handle, and after a short whistling sound, the motorcycle rushed out like an electric switch.

"Wait, wait, isn't this speed a little too fast..." Because of the wind pressure, I trembled when I spoke.

"Sorry, a protective barrier has been created for you," Ariel said.At the same time, the surrounding air flow speed suddenly became normal, as if an invisible barrier separated the front wind pressure, and I was finally able to catch my breath.

"Why, it's just a recycle bin, so it has such a realistic sense of reality?" I couldn't help complaining.

"Yes, it's very strange about this. From the outside, it's just an area with a complicated data accumulation library, but inside it shows a completely different world. I can't understand why in the underlying database of the star system, why is there a building that is similar to A space that is so similar to reality, and it is still used as a recycling bin.”

"...Forget it, don't do things that you don't understand. Maybe it was done on a whim when the people established the star system. My side shows that it is almost close to the goal. Can you tell me what's wrong? feature?"

"Sorry, although what is displayed on my side is a series of information data, but in the eyes of you, the master, it may present a completely different image. Maybe it is a bird, maybe a tree, or maybe a bird ..."

"cat?"

"Yes, there is indeed such a possibility. In short, please pay attention to whether there is any disharmony around you..."

"No, I mean, I saw a cat." I stopped the motorcycle and stared at the white cat on the other side of the river, lying on the bank and drinking water leisurely.

As for why I suddenly focused on a cat, it was because that chubby figure was so familiar to me.At least in my impression, there is only a white puppet cat that can be so fat.

"Fanny?" I called out its name subconsciously.

After the cat heard my voice, it suddenly raised its head and looked at me with great vigilance.

"Wait, why are you looking at me like that? It's me, me, I owe you two bags of cat food, what's the big deal, can I pay you back ten bags next time? How did you come to this place? Did you see anything else strange?"

"Googoo..." The puppet cat leaned down and let out a dull warning sound from its throat.

"Huh? What are you pretending to me, don't you know how to speak human, and there is no one else here..." I drove my motorcycle and approached slowly.

"Cuckoo... roar!" Suddenly, a brilliant laser shot out from Fanny's mouth, and I subconsciously jumped out of the car to the left, avoiding this terrible blow, but motorcycles are not like that Fortunately, I watched it re-decomposed into the most primitive information points in the light.

Fortunately, the opponent did not launch the next attack, but after glancing at me, he jumped and ran into the woods again.

what is happening?

"Master, I detected that the target stayed there for a short time, and then started to leave quickly. May I ask what happened to you?"

"Oh, I seem to have been attacked by a cat that spits out laser light just now... No, wait a minute."

Could it be that the target I am looking for is that puppet cat.

...If I think about it carefully, I should have noticed it a long time ago.In such a deserted place, how could there be "living creatures" other than me.It's just that I was deceived by the appearance of the familiar cat, and I didn't think of that aspect for a while.

"Ariel, help me regenerate a vehicle. I have found the target and am about to catch up now."

After a brief moment of astonishment, I immediately recovered my sobriety.Now that the target has been spotted, there is of course no option for it to escape.

"Understood, the route of the road has been re-planned for you."

"...In addition, give me two more guns, just follow your configuration."

"learn."

After being fully armed, I followed the cat's footsteps and rushed into the woods.I can't be mistaken, that cat is definitely the talking puppet cat I met when I arrived at Lydias Academy on the first day.It's just that it's really puzzling why the target information I'm looking for shows its appearance.

Chapter 48 Formatted World

"You're so fat, but you run pretty fast." I complained.After only a while, the cat figure has disappeared from my sight, but because of the existence of navigation, I can always calculate the nearest road at the first time, and keep approaching.

"Woo-meow!" The white puppet cat seemed to realize that it was difficult to get rid of my existence, and simply jumped several times in the trees, jumped into the sky, and launched an attack from top to bottom.

"Squeak!" I hurriedly pressed the brake.The motorcycle drew a beautiful arc on the lawn, barely avoiding the cat's laser attack.

"If you want to play the real thing, then I won't be polite here!" I supported the motorcycle with one foot, took off the sniper rifle I asked Ariel to generate from the back seat with one hand, and pulled the safety button skillfully. Bolt, leaned the butt of the gun firmly on the shoulder, and firmly aimed the cat at the center of the cross through the equipped scope.

Then, the trigger was pulled.

A thin silent thread pierced the air, the sound of bullets breaking through the sound barrier and the screams of cats came from the air, and a white figure fell from the air to the ground not far from me.

"Huh, I finally caught you now." I put the rifle back in the back seat, leaned the motorcycle against a tree, and walked slowly towards the falling figure.

The puppet cat was still able to move at this time, I saw it lying on the ground on its side, raised its head with difficulty, and looked at me with hostility.

"Okay, okay, do you understand what I'm saying? It's just a small paralysis virus, it will be fine after a while, I'm not your enemy." I gently picked it up from the lawn, and used it The free hand gently scratched its head and chin, and gradually the cat purred in satisfaction, and its vigilance towards me slowed down.

"Hey, that's it...Ariel, I have captured important information here, apply to return...Ariel?"

"..." There was no response, and a noise of snowflakes came from my ears, which made me feel a little uneasy.

"Ariel?"

"Police...supervisor...star...protection...escape..." I finally heard her voice, but it was intermittent, and there was a lot of panic in it.

Before I could guess the meaning of her words carefully, the puppet cat that I had been holding in my arms suddenly screamed.I subconsciously turned my head and saw——

The world is collapsing.

The sky, trees, buildings, waterfalls, all the elements that make up this end-apocalyptic world are constantly decomposing at this moment, gradually returning to the original nothingness.In layman's terms, it refers to the world, which seems to be in the process of "formatting".

"Damn it!" I couldn't help but swear, and without thinking about it, I threw the puppet cat on the front seat, then straddled the motorcycle by myself, and turned the accelerator to the maximum.

In a roar, we rushed out.The number on the timetable has exceeded 200 yards in the blink of an eye, but compared with the speed at which the world is dissipating, it still seems a little short.

"Damn it! Why did it suddenly format and clean up at this time! Could it be that it was discovered? Or..." I lowered my head and glanced at the puppet cat lying obediently on the motorcycle seat , The lazy look is completely different from the previous one that is on the verge of swords and swords, and even keeps rubbing against my body with the hair on the back, as if expressing his friendliness.

"Really! You should have gotten closer to me earlier, so I wouldn't have to bother you so much." I sighed, Ariel couldn't be contacted for the time being, so I had to do it all by myself. But the world disintegrated not only behind me, but from the outside inward.If this continues, even if he can hide for a while, he will be caught up and formatted sooner or later.

What would reality be like if my consciousness were formatted here?The best situation is of course to wake up naturally, but there is no guarantee that it will become a vegetative state, so the situation of falling asleep will not happen.

Moreover, how can I let the clue that I found with great difficulty disappear from my hands like this?

"Meow~~~~" The puppet cat suddenly let out a lazy cry, urging me to move forward in a certain direction as if guiding me.

"You told me to go left? But there are ruins and broken walls over there, right?" Somehow, I suddenly understood what it meant, and couldn't help replying.

"Meow~~~~" It was still that lazy voice, but it was much more urgent than the previous one.

I suddenly remembered, if this cat is really the piece of "lost information" I was looking for, since it can shuttle between various databases, then maybe it is really possible to escape from this collapsed world s method.

"...Ah, I know! I trust you just once! So, please use it to me!" I gritted my teeth, turned the car sharply, and drove towards the fallen building.

The speed at which the data disappears is getting faster and faster, and even the route that was just opened in the previous second becomes a bottomless void in the next second.The acceleration of the motorcycle has been pulled to the maximum. Without the protection of the barrier that Ariel set up before, my whole body would have been blown away by the huge wind pressure.

"Give me—go!" Finally, we came to the top of the building, and with huge inertia, the motorcycle took off directly like this. At the same time, the collapse of the world has reached a critical point .

That's it, is it over?Just when I couldn't help feeling unwilling, a golden circle of light suddenly flashed in front of my eyes, swallowing Moto and me together in the blink of an eye.

--------------------------

"Swish swish..."

The cold, heavy and dense liquid fell on my body one after another.

It is rain.

The rainwater flowed down my body, and at the same time took away the little temperature.My eyelids were heavy as if I had been hung with a heavy pendant. I subconsciously wanted to turn over, but my consciousness seemed to be connected to a thousand ping values, and I couldn't command my already paralyzed torso.

Am I dying?

After noticing this, consciousness gradually dissipated, as if sinking into darkness.

"..." The raindrops flowed from the slightly parted lips, moistening the dry throat.However, it is not enough.Hunger, cold, pain, whatever it is, is enough to easily take my life from this world.

"...and, are you breathing?"

The sound of the rain suddenly stopped, replaced by the clear voice of a girl.

Chapter 49 Another Memory

After hearing her voice, it seemed as if power was pouring into my body, I struggled and raised my head with all my strength.

The girl in plain white squatted quietly in front of me, the umbrella in her hand completely covered my body, completely ignoring her wet back.

"Really, do you want to continue living? Then..." The girl stretched out her free other hand, and gently hugged my body from the ground.

……Hey?

It wasn't until this moment that I finally noticed something was wrong.This girl who seems to be less than ten years old has a body that is far beyond my size, and easily hugs me in her arms. If she is not actually a giant... then, it could only be mine The body suddenly shrunk.

"Meow..." I desperately exhaled from my throat.

……Meow?

I froze for a moment, and then shifted my gaze to the bottom.The place where the palm was supposed to exist was suddenly replaced by a small wet cat's paw.

"--Meow meow meow?!"

"... together, let's go back."

------------------

After enjoying the milk and drying the hair all over my body with a towel, I lay quietly on the floor next to the stove, and finally got the time to calm down and think.

Don't know what happened, but as a result, I seem to have turned into a cat, and a long-haired white cat at that.The memory finally stopped at the moment before the collapse of the recycle bin world. I crossed the information barrier with the strange puppet cat, and then when I woke up, I had turned into a cat and lay in the rain.

Did something unexpected happen during the crossing?I tried to get in touch with Ariel, but never heard back.Moreover, this world is not like the database in the star system, because everything is too real, as real as...someone's memory.

And there is one thing that I am very concerned about, that is, the girl who picked me up is sitting at the desk opposite the stove at this moment, reading books quietly.The candle lamp hit her face, imprinting a red halo.