Meanwhile, in another part of the Sector,
Katie and Dodge were in a state of utter desperation.
Katie was meticulously scanning every corner for clues, while Dodge's behavior was… significantly more extreme.
He was sprawled flat on the ground, sniffing the pavement like a bloodhound, his nose twitching incessantly.
Katie, unable to witness this logical meltdown any longer, couldn't help but snap: "Senior Dodge! Do you really think you're a rescue dog? Do you honestly believe you can sniff Lawson back into existence?"
Dodge looked up, but instead of shame, his face wore a "sinister" grin—the look of a man who had just mastered a bizarre, godly skill.
"You don't understand! I'm locking onto the kidnapper's scent! That unique perfume she wore… it leaves a trail for miles!"
"You're not a bloodhound..." Katie felt a surge of primordial rage.
She clenched her fist and hammered it onto Dodge's back, then frantically wiped her hand as if she'd touched something contaminated.
"You're just a perverted giant bear!!"
Just as their "pleasant" exchange concluded, the air before them shattered. A pair of slender hands reached out from the void, physically prying the space apart.
The moment Ester stepped out of the portal, she didn't waste a heartbeat before interrogating everyone about the details of the "Lawson Kidnapping."
Katie spoke at lightning speed, briefly recounting the absurd turn of events that had just unfolded.
"So, what now?" Ester crossed her arms, her voice dripping with an agitation that was almost overflowing.
"Are we supposed to just stand here and wait, betting that a 'Lawson pancake' will magically fall from the sky and land on us?"
Right then, Dodge—who had been comically unconscious—finally stirred and woke up.
He propped himself up, and without even bother to brush the dust off his shirt, he spat out a sentence that was enough to make him the undisputed, back-to-back world champion of "Being Beaten to a Pulp": "That's why I'm using my nose! I'll find them in no time! Hahaha!"
Instead of praise, he was met with a perfectly synchronized double-punch from Ester and Katie.The "Operation Bear-Hunt" had concluded successfully, and Esther's frayed nerves finally caught a break.
But before she could even catch her breath, the System's stern warning flickered in her memories—she must bring the missing Lawson back to base.
"No, no, no! This is no time for lounging! If I stall any longer, Brother Lawson will be dragged off to the final chapter's raid! Where on earth was he kidnapped to?"
One second, Esther was maintaining her "Professional Guide" persona; the next, she switched into "Human Gyroscope" mode. She spun on the spot with a speed that defied biological limits, her blurred afterimages nearly whipping up a localized hurricane.
"Esther! C-Calm down! You're going to drill yourself into the Earth's core if you keep this up!"
Katie lunged forward, grabbing Esther's shoulders to stop the anxiety-induced physical disaster.
"Doesn't your tablet have a built-in GPS? Try tracking Lawson's signal, now!"
"Oh, right! How did I forget that?"
Esther froze instantly. However, after a few frantic swipes on her tablet, she turned into a pale, gray stone statue, practically accompanied by the desolate sound of wind whistling through ruins.
"It's over… It's not working! The radar only locks onto 'Warrior' units. It doesn't have the coordinates for a special class like 'Armor Smith' at all!"
"Are you kidding me?! Is this System some fossil from the last century? That's so outdated!"
Dodge's entire body shook from the sheer absurdity of the situation, his voice dripping with disbelief.
Esther shrunk back, twiddling her fingers as she stammered a soft defense:
"I-It's not entirely my fault… Who could've predicted the script would collapse like this? Back in the game, NPCs were like wooden puppets, staying exactly where they were told. They never ran around, let alone got kidnapped in some unscripted drama…"
At that moment, sensing the crisis, the "System" issued an emergency mission. Esther's tablet, along with Dodge and Katie's phones, lit up simultaneously. The screen displayed:
[SPECIAL EXTRA MISSION]
[Objective: Retrieve the Armor Smith (0/1)]
[Reward: None]
[Failure Penalty: Ester's human rights are revoked; she will be reverted to her original role as the Mascot 'Pinkish'.]
Ester stared at the red-flashing penalty.
She looked like she had been struck by lightning.
This time, her crying was genuine and heartbroken.
"NOOOO! I don't want to be a mascot! I don't want to spend my days grunting while pushing the transition loading bars!!"
This ultimate outburst finally revealed her deepest, darkest secret.
Dodge blinked, then smacked his thigh in sudden realization.
"So that's the truth! Back when I played the game, every time the screen transitioned, I saw that annoying, punchable creature pushing the loading bar. THAT WAS YOU?! No wonder I haven't seen that thing in this world!"
Dodge's realization gave him a moment of profound clarity. In the next second, he became a shooting star, soaring into the sky to achieve a literal "long-distance perspective."
On the ground, Ester retracted the brutal kicking leg that was still steaming, wiping her tears while giving off an aura of: If you want to die, just say so.
Forced into a "flight" at ten thousand meters, Dodge's instincts surged like never before. He locked onto an anomaly on the distant horizon.
At the edge of a distorted dimension, a deep black light flickered—a scorch mark in space. It was the afterimage of {Shadow Strike}, the only clue to Lawson's location.
"THERE—! TWO O'CLOCK DIRECTION! THAT DAMN BLACK LIGHT!! PURSUE IT!!!"
His voice was shredded by the gale. He flailed his limbs in the air, acting as a human compass for his companions below.
Katie looked up, seeing the golden speck waving its limbs frantically.
"I really want to pretend I don't know him..." Katie sighed, then her gaze sharpened as she turned to Ester.
"But he really found something.
Dodge, fresh off his forced "Aerial Recon" task, obviously believed he was the main character of the moment.
He pulled off a high-difficulty aerial flip just for show.
With practiced precision, he whipped out his phone, synced with his armor, and even gave his hair a stylish swipe through the gale—all while hurtling toward the earth.
The transformation sequence followed, a seamless symphony of clanking metal.
It was, without a doubt, the flashiest, dopest transformation scene ever caught on "screen."
But the "badassery" had a three-second shelf life.
Katie and Esther, who were originally waiting for a heroic entrance, saw their expressions shift from awe to pure terror.
Gallant warrior? No. This was a flaming meteorite of mass destruction!
"EVERYONE RUN! FALLING DEBRIS!!!" Esther shrieked.
Even Dodge knew he'd screwed up. In a desperate bid to not turn the ground into a crater, his "cool" facade shattered.
He began flailing like a panicked beetle, his pose crashing from "Iron Man" to "Iron Mess" as he frantically tried to kick-start the thrusters.
"STOOOOP! OUT OF CONTROL! MOVE, MOVE, MOVEEEE—!"
Meanwhile, Lawson was being held by one hand by {Shadow Strike}, struggling like a fish out of water.
His heavy leather boots hammered against her pitch-black armor.
"You kidnapper! Let me go! Or don't blame me for what happens next!"
The female warrior tilted her head slightly. The electronic voice behind her visor was laced with inherent arrogance and contempt. "Oh? And what exactly can a 'fragile human' like you do? I'd love to see what kind of 'trouble' you can actually cause."
"Then watch closely!" Lawson growled. Brilliant golden light exploded from Lawson. However, at that exact moment, he felt a sudden chill at the back of his neck.
From {Shadow Strike} forearm, accompanied by the subtle click of mechanical gears, a razor-sharp ninja shuriken slid out.
The blade was pressed firmly against his carotid artery.
"Feel free to keep shouting," {Shadow Strike} said, her voice dropping to a sub-zero temperature.
"But my shuriken doesn't have eyes."
Lawson froze. The surging spiritual energy was instantly sucked back into his body.
He became instantly docile, completely abandoning all thoughts of struggle.