Sazzy's Friend

Moving through the corridors, the three of us moved towards the necessity store. From there I bought the ingredients used to make pudding, Jasmine milk, eggs and clam powder. Then the three of us carried our ingredients in the basket, went over to write down what we took, then left for our benches.

The two of them were in a research area that was different from mine, so we parted ways outside the necessity store.

At my research counter, I placed the three ingredients down. Then I took the recreated poison and held it at an angle Sazzy could reach.

"Sazzy, is this a replica of the poison we were given at Aquarius?"

Looking closely at it, she shook her head.

[It's close, but it's not an exact replica. I think there might be a missing ingredient. Since the poison is a preservative, I think it's safe to say that it would not change even though 120 years have passed. Most preservatives in this world work this way.]

I lifted the recreated poison up and took off the cover.

"Is it poisonous?"

But before I could finish my question, Sazzy jumped up onto the counter and screwed the cover back onto the container.

[It's not an exact replica, but it's still quite poisonous! In fact, it's more poisonous than the preservative we were given. The only reason why that preservative was so deadly was because it was able to disguise itself as a normal preservative!]

I put the container containing the recreated poison down. Since Sazzy said it was only missing an ingredient, then it seemed that Liz had gotten quite close to the original recipe for the preservative. However, it was still not the original. And if I wanted to find a solution to destroy the preservative, the original recipe needed to be recreated.

That being said, there were millions and billions of ingredients out there, combined with the hundreds of different methods to prepare a single type of food, finding out the original recipe by chance was definitely impossible.

I observed the ingredients before me. Jasmine milk, eggs and clam powder. To be honest, the fact that all of these ingredients had appeared inside or near the house at Mors seemed to be a little more than a coincidence. But if the ingredients in the house and the original recipe were connected to each other, then I was missing one ingredient. The blue vegetable!

"Sazzy, who was the owner of our house on Mors before us?"

I tried to casually ask her as I put away the ingredients and headed back to the necessity store. If I was not wrong, I had spotted the blue vegetable at the store just now.

[The owner before us? If I'm not wrong, he was someone tied to the world hopping department. I can go and ask someone from that department about them!]

With a happy shout, Sazzy forgot all about the secret she was trying to keep from me and disappeared in front of my eyes.

Giving a helpless sigh, I had just reached the necessity store when a tall and mature-looking woman appeared out of thin air.

I tried my best to not jump at shock, and inhaled a large amount of air until I choked. Ducking into the store to escape the several pairs of eyes that turned towards me, I went to the corner, making sure no one could see my suspicious actions.

[Sorry for scaring you. Sha Zi asked me to look after you while she went for some errand. My name is Ava.]

The woman spoke coolly and calmly, her arms crossed, an obvious mask of confidence on her face. Even though her eyes seemed to give off a panicked feeling.

"Nice to meet you Ava. I'm guessing you are Sazzy's friend?"

Speaking in a soft voice to not attract attention, I moved over to where the blue vegetables were and grabbed some.

[Yes, we are friends. And she asked me to observe your condition for her while she went to go find someone.]

Condition? Does Sazzy mean my MDVA? I thought all the problems related to that were solved?

Frowning, I pushed my thoughts to the side and looked up at Ava again. I'll probably have to ask her about this later.

Facing Ava, I could see her facade start to crack. Her smile was slightly stiff, and her eyes were basically blasting 'I said something I shouldn't have again!'.

I exited the center and moved slowly along the corridors. It seemed that Sazzy's friend had a very loose mouth and would be easy to trick information on. Speaking of that.

[Just now, you called Sazzy, Sha Zhi. Is that her actual name?]

Ava slightly froze as she walked beside me. Her body language was screaming that she was uncomfortable with that question. But nevertheless, she still answered as 'coolly' as she could.

[Well, it is a small matter that does not require too much explaining. But, since you insist. I'll mention it briefly. There was a period of time when I first met her that she was constantly down and pressured by her past life. So, I did whatever a good friend did, and suggested for her to change her name. After all, that would allow her to separate her past life from her current one. At that time, I had casually mentioned the 'system number', as well as some slang from a book I read. She happened to like both of them, and so they became her 'system number' and new name. Although probably due to language barriers, it turned from Sha Zi to Sazzy.]

When I thought she would use an excuse to dodge the clearly unwanted question, Ava gave me a whole paragraph detailing the origin of Sazzy's name. Including a hint of a past that Sazzy hadn't told me.

"So what is the meaning of her name?"

As I asked her some more, I placed the blue vegetable on the research counter and started preparation for the experiment.

From the side of my eye, I could see Ava biting her lip and fidgeting quite badly. It was worse than before. However, as soon as I turned to face her head on, she straightened her back and resumed her cool mask.

[It was just a fitting name for her. Something too insignificant for me to say. It's not like I would have suggested slang that called someone a fool as my friend's nickname. What sort of nonsense would that be!]

Looking at Ava's eyes, which screamed wanting to stab her past self, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive of how reliable she was.

"So you suggested slang for 'fool' as your friend's name, when she was looking for support from you?"

At my sentence, Ava's mask clearly broke and she avoided my gaze. However, there was still some panic left aside from the guilt.

"Was the system number you suggested also a slang?"

Hitting the mark, Ava flinched as she opened her mouth. Although no words came out.

I was speechless.

[Don't tell her any of this! Please!]

Discarding her facade, Ava looked at me with pleading eyes, as if I had extorted this shameful secret from her. Even though she was the one who spilled her guts in front of me.

And I don't think anyone would have enough heart to tell Sazzy her name's origin. Not after she proudly introduced herself that way from the very first day I met her.

Frowning, I assured Ava that I wouldn't say anything, and started fiddling with the instruments on the research counter. Anything was better than talking to someone who would joke around when their friends needed them the most.

But out of the corner of my eye, I was still observing Ava. I saw her calm herself, and then refocus her attention on my actions. Looking at the ingredients, I saw a look of recognition flash through her eyes, followed by relief.

It seemed she was familiar with these ingredients.

"Do you recognize these?"

Lightly probing Ava, instead of the uncomfortable face I expected her to make, she just scrunched her eyebrows in a thoughtful look before physically shrugging off her concerns.

[The preservative? I thought we needed to wait a couple more years before they could be shown to the public. But I guess the timeline has shifted forward a little bit.]

Ava leaned her head forward and stared at the ingredients.

[Still, it was only a couple years ago that the previous stage of the timeline happened. I might need to check this out with some of the others.]

Mumbling to herself, Ava became absorbed in her thoughts. However, her spoken thoughts were interrupted as Sazzy appeared from out of nowhere with a satisfied smile.

[Thank you Ava! For helping me with this even though you were with your host!]

Seeing Sazzy, Ava let out a soft sigh of relief and smiled at her.

[No problem. Besides, I wanted to see what your host is like. Since we would have to meet soon anyway!]

Ava gave a little nervous glance at me from the side of her eye.

Smiling, Sazzy then did a little small talk with Ava before bidding her goodbye.

But before Ava left, she gave a little wave towards me.

[See you soon!]

The moment after she disappeared, Sazzy bounced in excitement as she reported back what she found.

[The owner of the house before us was really bound to the world hopping department, and stayed in this world for around 20 years. During that time, he was acquainted with a Colonizer and fell in love with her. However that love didn't last long as she was assassinated due to having forbidden knowledge pertaining to the Loser's War. That Colonizer had left a note that held these three ingredients in his hands before she died. Apparently the owner also realized what the note was about and had hidden it in the house secretly. He even destroyed the end product that he created to confirm the recipe. However, I'm guessing he forgot to clear the ingredients before the house fell into our hands. Here! A copy of the note that he received!]

Sending a picture of a note through my personal terminal, she then looked at the prepared ingredients on the counter and exclaimed.

[I see you got the ingredients ready already! That's great! We can immediately start!]