July 16th, at dusk.
Host Body Two, Xia Pingzhou, sat up in the loft. Resting his right hand on the mattress, he turned to look out the window.
The sun was setting in the west, slowly drawing back its remaining light scattered across Tokyo. Through the loft's window, a glass curtain wall dyed crimson by the twilight was visible.
After washing his face, he went downstairs and found the cafe completely empty. There was no sign of the kimono girl or the ninja uncle. Instead, a woman in a vibrant red dress was sitting in a chair in the corner.
With downcast eyes, she quietly sipped her alcohol. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than mber No. 9 of the White Raven Brigade—the Blood Progenitor.
The door was open, letting the evening breeze and the sunset wash over her. Under the fading light, the woman's pale golden hair appeared almost white.
Resting her face in her hands, she raised her crimson eyes to look at him and curled her lips into a smirk. "Just like a cat. If you aren't lounging around sleeping all day, you're purring and acting spoiled."
Ji Minghuan walked over, pulled up a chair opposite her, and sat down, asking curiously,
"What are you doing here?"
"This love-chasing old hag has co to fight the kimono loli young mistress for the custody rights of our little kitten, Number Twelve," the Blood Progenitor joked.
When there was no one else around, she did not mind referring to herself that way.
"Then you're too late. The cat has already signed a lifelong custody contract with the kimono loli young mistress."
"You had better be careful then. That contract probably includes a sterilization clause for the kitten. From what I've seen, every little cat is coaxed and tricked by its owner into pressing its paw onto the paper. Ah, such a bloody paw print..."
"Jokes aside, where did the ninja and the young mistress go?" Ji Minghuan shrugged.
"They went to pick soone up. Today, three of our mbers are arriving on a smuggling ship at the port." The Blood Progenitor let out a yawn. "The kimono loli young mistress didn't want to be alone with , so she accompanied her butler."
"So what are you here for?"
"Even though we won't officially assemble for another five days, there's no rule saying mbers can't hang out in their free ti." The Blood Progenitor smiled faintly. "I ca to chat with you."
"I don't talk much. Chatting with
is dull and boring."
The Blood Progenitor gestured with her eyes toward a thermos cup behind the counter. "By the way, that's the stead oat milk Oda Takikage made for you. He asked
to remind you once you woke up."
Ji Minghuan picked up the thermos cup, sat back down, opened the lid, and took a sip of the milk. The perk of being the young mistress's cat was getting to share her butler:
If he ntioned wanting sothing to drink, Oda Takikage would prepare a beverage for him in advance.
If he wanted a specific dish, even if the store lacked the ingredients, Oda Takikage would simply rge into shadows, race to the supermarket, and bring back the necessary items in less than two or three minutes.
"How nice. Are you truly being taken care of like a little kitten?" The Blood Progenitor tilted her head, watching him with a beaming smile.
"I am not a cat."
"Oh, right. I heard you defeated Oda Takikage?" The Blood Progenitor blinked at him.
"Who told you that?"
"Your young mistress, of course. Her tone sounded exactly like soone bragging about her little kitten sending the butler flying with a single kick of its paw. She didn't feel sorry for her butler at all."
"I can't imagine that. Aside from speaking coldly, does she even possess other tones of voice?"
"Right? Right?" The Blood Progenitor smiled. "She acts the most like a robot out of all the mbers. Not even Robert seems as much like an artificial intelligence as she does."
Ji Minghuan did not agree out loud, instead reflecting on the spar from that morning.
He had indeed defeated Oda Takikage, but it was obvious that Oda Takikage had both underestimated him and held back from using his full strength.
Furthermore, the chanics of his Celestial Drive were terrifyingly complex. He could not be compared to a standard Exorcist, so it was not surprising that he managed to turn the tables on Oda Takikage.
In a one-on-one fight, even if his opponent was a whole tier above him, he still had a chance to secure victory relying on the chanics of his chess pieces.
Looking at it this way... since Oda Takikage was a Superhuman at the Dragon-tier Peak, Host Body Two's current strength should be that of a solid, standard Dragon-tier ability user. Slightly stronger than Host Body One, but not by a massive margin.
'That was fine. It was more than enough to beat up Su Zimai... However, Ke Qirui had ntioned that Su Zimai advanced to a Tier 2 Exorcist yesterday, which ant her strength must have grown as well. I might not be able to beat Su Zimai to a pulp after all. I will just have to take it one step at a ti.'
Thinking this, Ji Minghuan took a sip of his stead milk.
The Blood Progenitor paused and glanced sideways toward the cafe's entrance. "Well, aren't they back already?"
Ji Minghuan lifted his gaze and saw five figures slowly stepping into the cafe.
Their silhouettes blocked the setting sun, their shadows stretching long across the floor. Setting aside Ayase Origami and Oda Takikage, whom he already knew, the remaining three were:
A boy in a blue jumpsuit with heavy dark circles under his eyes, looking to be about twelve or thirteen years old;
A middle-aged man wearing a cowboy hat, a denim jacket, and suit pants, his eyes gleaming sharply beneath the brim;
And lastly, a girl with dyed blue short hair, dressed in a rock-punk graphic T-shirt and jeans. She wore a pair of sapphire earrings, her eyes shining brightly.
"Is this the newbie?"
The mont the blue-haired girl saw Xia Pingzhou, she pointed right at him and asked.
"Yes, Miss Lan Duo Duo," Oda Takikage replied. "He replaced the mber who died previously. He is the new Number Twelve."
Lan Duo Duo pulled up a chair next to Xia Pingzhou. Resting her chin on her hand, she turned to look at him with a sly grin. "Hello, I am Chinese."
"You're Chinese, stop showing off your foreign languages," Ji Minghuan retorted.
Lan Duo Duo imdiately switched languages, giggling as she said in Cantonese, "Handso, where are you from?"
"I don't understand Cantonese." Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow, turning to et her bright, childlike gaze. "Are you from Hong Kong?"
"Yep." Lan Duo Duo wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm Lan Duo Duo, mber Number Five in the Brigade."
"Xia Pingzhou, Number Twelve." Ji Minghuan paused. "I thought Anecdote Envoys were all foreigners."
"There are plenty of Anecdote Envoys in China too, you know. Don't be so stereotypical."
Lan Duo Duo laughed, bumping her shoulder against his. Ayase Origami walked over and said coolly, "Kitten, sit on the inside."
Ji Minghuan shifted over, making room for her while moving to the innermost seat, putting Ayase Origami between himself and Lan Duo Duo. Honestly, he wasn't entirely used to Lan Duo Duo being so quickly familiar either. The young mistress had co to his rescue.
Lan Duo Duo looked up at the boy with dark circles and the man dressed like a Western cowboy. "Aren't you two manly n going to introduce yourselves to the newbie?"
"Number Eight. Just call
Hacker, that's what everyone else calls ," the boy in the jumpsuit mumbled listlessly.
"Number Six. I'm Andrew. This newbie sure is popular, actually managing to get looked after by our little sister Ayase..." The cowboy bead with joy.
"Number Twelve, Xia Pingzhou," Ji Minghuan said.
Lan Duo Duo laughed, "Haha, there's no need for self-introductions anyway. We actually heard all about you on the way here. The young mistress told us you beat Oda Takikage?"
"That is a fact." Oda Takikage didn't deny it. "Well then, I will go prepare the ingredients for tonight. Everyone, please flip the cafe's open sign to closed."
Saying so, he stepped out of the restroom, his figure rging into the shadows at his feet until he completely vanished.
"I'm dead tired... I'm going upstairs to find a place to sleep. Keep it down." Yawning, Hacker headed upstairs. He was probably going to claim Xia Pingzhou's mattress.
Andrew dragged over a chair and sat down, making the table so crowded that there was barely any room left. "Oh ho... I didn't expect our newbie to not only be popular with won but also have real talent. You actually beat old man Takikage?"
The Blood Progenitor took a sip of red wine and teased, "Unexpected, isn't it? Who would have thought a milk-drinking little kitten could be so fierce."
"My cat," Ayase Origami flatly emphasized, looking down at her haiku notebook.
"Alright, alright, your cat." The Blood Progenitor paid it no mind.
"How is it that you all seem to have such a great relationship with the newbie? I arrived in Tokyo only two or three days late, and I've already been squeezed out of the competition." Lan Duo Duo smiled, resting her chin on her hand, her sapphire earrings clinking together.
Andrew glanced at the bottle of red wine on the table and licked his lips. "Pour
a glass, Miss Blood Progenitor."
The Blood Progenitor raised an eyebrow, curling her lips as she asked, "I brought this bottle over myself. It's mixed with the human blood of Ember, that Superhuman we killed back in France. Are you sure you want a drink?"
"Bah, so what?" Andrew's expression didn't change as he took off his cowboy hat. "I've never tasted wine mixed with human blood before. Maybe that just gives it an extra kick."
"Since you're the only one who doesn't normally call
an 'old hag,' I'll share so with you." The Blood Progenitor grabbed a wine glass, poured from the bottle, and pushed it toward Andrew.
"I always respect beauties," Andrew smiled. "Regardless of age, a beauty is a beauty. Back when I was a cowboy in the Arican West, I even dated a woman in her fifties."
"Save the sweet talk... You're so greasy." Lan Duo Duo chuckled, forcefully jabbing her elbow into Andrew's shoulder.
Ji Minghuan subtly took a sip of his stead milk, asking with curiosity, "I'm a little curious. What are Number Six and Number Eight's abilities?"
Andrew accepted the blood-laced wine and chugged it down in a single gulp. His face turned pale and green by turns. A mont later, he wiped his mouth and hollered,
"Woohoo! Oh yeah! Yeehaw! That's fucking intense! Is this the blood of France's strongest Superhuman? It feels like there's a fire burning right in my gut..."
After a good while, he finally managed to smooth down his fiercely arched, slightly trembling eyebrows, and his complexion returned to normal. Looking as though he had just lost half his lifespan, Andrew silently pushed the wine glass away.
He glanced over at Xia Pingzhou and forced a hearty smile.
"Number Twelve, my boy, I'm an Exorcist just like you."
Lan Duo Duo chid in to explain, "This sleazy cowboy uncle's Celestial Drive is a sniper rifle. He usually loves hiding far away and taking cheap shots. I won't lie though, when he gets serious, he can shoot straight through a skyscraper."
"And Number Eight?" Ji Minghuan asked, referring to the boy in the jumpsuit who called himself Hacker.
Lan Duo Duo said, "Hacker's ability is sowhat complex, but it has to do with network data. If you're interested, you can ask him yourself later."
Andrew shrugged, silently taking a sip of plain water to wash away the overwhelming alcohol buzz before speaking up.
"Number Eight? He's just an internet-addicted kid!"
Lan Duo Duo stated plainly, "But who can bla him when that internet-addicted kid happens to be the best hacker in the world? The Captain specifically had Oda Takikage scour half of China just to find this little prodigy and bring him into the Brigade."
Ayase Origami said expressionlessly, "We have a brat, and we have an old hag. The Captain must have considered that averaging things out this way keeps the ecosystem of the mbers perfectly balanced."
The Blood Progenitor slamd her wine glass onto the table. She looked at her with a beaming smile, though her eyes were filled with an icy chill. "Oh my... our yakuza young mistress really does not speak kindly."
Lan Duo Duo quickly interjected, cutting off the squabble brewing between the two. "Don't you guys tear down old man Takikage's cafe. He'll throw a fit when he gets back."
Ji Minghuan interjected, "I'm more interested in knowing who is the strongest in the Brigade. Where does Oda Takikage rank?"
The Blood Progenitor thought for a mont before answering, "Generally speaking, we all agree that the Captain or little sister Jack the Ripper are the strongest. Takikage ranks nearer to the bottom, while the young mistress and I are neck and neck."
Resting her chin on her hand, Lan Duo Duo sighed, "Before you got here, I was second from the bottom. Ah... I really just want to secretly shoot all these people, damn it."
Hearing this, Ji Minghuan finished the last drop of his hot stead milk. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he silently filled out the roster of the White Raven Brigade in his mind.
Number One: Unknown (Captain)
Number Two: Jack the Ripper (Exorcist. Celestial Drive is a dark red small knife. Near-Calamity Tier. One of the top fighters in the Brigade)
Number Three: Ayase Origami (Superhuman. Ability is controlling paper objects. Near-Calamity Tier. Combat strength similar to the Blood Progenitor)
Number Four: Oda Takikage (Superhuman. Ability is rging into shadows and controlling them. Dragon-tier. Combat strength ranks in the lower middle of the Brigade)
Number Five: Lan Duo Duo (Anecdote Envoy. Held Anecdote Fragnts are unknown. Dragon-tier. Combat strength ranks second from the bottom in the Brigade)
Number Six: Andrew (Exorcist. Celestial Drive is a sniper rifle. Exact strength unknown)
Number Seven: Robert (Superhuman. Ability is opening a door connecting different locations on a wall. A utility mber, so his combat strength shouldn't be too high. When it cos to pure fighting, he might be dead last)
Number Eight: Hacker (Superhuman. Ability is said to be related to network data. Strength unknown)
Number Nine: Blood Progenitor (Suspected Superhuman. Ability is controlling her own blood. Combat strength is similar to Ayase Origami, so it can be inferred she is Near-Calamity Tier)
Number Ten: White Wolf (Demon. Ability unknown. Most likely can transform into a giant dog. Speculated to be at least Near-Calamity Tier. Upper limit unknown)
Number Eleven: An Lunsi (Superhuman. Ability is summoning a slot machine. Known to cause a massive explosion when the slot machine rolls three rocket launcher icons. Near-Calamity Tier)
Number Twelve: Xia Pingzhou (Team favorite. Responsible for owing and securing the final hit. Without him, they couldn't make a full roster of twelve. Dragon-tier)
Sitting among the mbers, Ji Minghuan silently thought, 'Blue Arc is an elite among the Near-Calamity Tier, so fighting two Near-Calamity opponents shouldn't be a problem for him. And old man is even stronger than big brother, possibly even touching the threshold of the Calamity-Tier. Not to ntion Li Qingping—brother Red Dragon's strength cannot be underestimated either...'
Looking at it this way, the power difference between the two sides on paper shouldn't be much. The defending side also had a bunch of minnows they could use as cannon fodder. It was truly hard to say who would erge as the victor in this auction.
The only remaining variables left were two individuals...
One was the mysterious guest the hosts had ntioned;
The other was the Captain of the Brigade, who still hadn't arrived in Tokyo.
Exactly what kind of monster this leader was would directly determine the outco of the bloody battle at the auction.
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