Amidst the crashing downpour, dark cumulonimbus clouds blanketed the skies over Tokyo.
The rain grew increasingly heavier, showing no signs of stopping. Millions of gallons of water plumted from the heavens, as if trying to drown the entire city.
At this very mont, inside a remote, abandoned building.
Xia Pingzhou sat in the highest corner, playing chess with Ayase Origami. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at mber No. 7, Robert, who was resting his head and napping.
'Why is Robert still here?' he thought. 'If the leader infiltrated the auction house, he definitely should have brought Number Seven along.'
"It is your turn," Ayase Origami's cold, clear voice interrupted Xia Pingzhou's running thoughts.
Xia Pingzhou looked up and used a pencil to draw a cross on the gomoku grid.
"I win," Ayase Origami declared, drawing a circle before using her pencil to connect five circles into a straight line. "Kitten, you are not paying attention."
Xia Pingzhou paid it no mind, his thoughts running wild.
'If the leader wants to get the rest of the mbers inside the auction house, he has to use the supernatural ability of mber No. 7, Robert. Robert can open a wooden door connecting to any place he has ever been.'
'But mber No. 7, Robert, is sitting right here in the abandoned building, having not moved a single inch.'
'Which ans... the leader snuck into the auction house all by himself?'
At that thought, Xia Pingzhou turned his head and deadpanned at mber No. 8, Hacker. "Where is the leader? Did he not say he would tell us the plan five minutes before the operation begins?"
"The leader is already inside the auction house,"
Hacker replied without even lifting his head, staring down as he played with his mobile phone.
"The leader is inside the auction house?" Xia Pingzhou enunciated every word.
Hacker turned off his mobile phone and looked up at Xia Pingzhou. "That is right, and Robert is currently in the auction house too. He will soon open a wooden door for us from inside the auction. We just need to wait here."
Xia Pingzhou paused slightly, asking, "But is Robert not right here?"
Hearing this, the other mbers of the White Raven Brigade cast their gazes over, traces of surprise appearing on their faces.
They then looked in unison at mber No. 7, Robert, who was leaning against the wall with his head drooping in a nap. The square chanical box completely obscured his expression.
Amidst the dead silence, mber No. 11, An Lunsi, who was sitting next to Robert, suddenly drew a pistol from inside his suit.
An Lunsi then pulled off Robert's square chanical box. Revealed underneath was a bruised and battered man with a rag stuffed in his mouth. The man was unconscious.
Without missing a beat, An Lunsi covered his ears, raised the pistol, and smiled as he pulled the trigger, aiming right at the man's head.
"Bang!"
The sharp gunshot exploded through the silent, abandoned building. Blood splattered, and the man slowly slumped to the ground.
"Hacker, explain," Jack the Ripper demanded coldly, tilting her head. "What is the situation here?"
"A fascinating farce." Blood Progenitor cupped her cheeks with both hands, arching an eyebrow with a faint smile.
Ayase Origami also looked up, casting a sideways glance at the freshly executed Robert.
Lan Duo Duo stared blankly for a mont. After a brief pause, she tilted her head and muttered, "If the Robert here is fake, then where is the real Robert?"
Hacker opened his mouth, explaining to the group:
"The real Robert is waiting inside the auction house with the leader. The Robert who has been sleeping here for hours was just an underground boxer that An Lunsi kidnapped last night. An Lunsi simply put a square chanical box over his head."
He paused, lowering his voice. "The leader said there might be a mole among us. That mole leaked our supernatural abilities to the auction house staff, so he had the two of us put on this little play for you all..."
At this, Hacker turned his head to look at Xia Pingzhou and stated flatly:
"Rookie, at first, I thought you were the mole. But you have stayed by our side the entire ti, and I have been constantly monitoring your mobile phone records. Every single text ssage of yours, and even every word you have spoken recently, has been under my watch. That proves you are not the mole."
No emotion could be seen on Xia Pingzhou's face.
After a long silence, he unhurriedly replied, "What a massive joke. My heart is still in Jack the Ripper's hands. Would betraying you not just be seeking my own death?"
White Wolf lifted his cataract-clouded left eye, silently observing the scene before finally speaking:
"Did the leader deceive even us..."
Andrew pulled down the brim of his cowboy hat and tugged at the corner of his lips. "As expected of the leader. He always manages to pull off sothing I could never predict."
"Alright, since the misunderstanding has been cleared up," An Lunsi said, returning the pistol to his suit pocket. He added lightly, "By now, Robert should be just about ready to open a wooden door for us from inside the auction house."
Speaking up to this point, his voice dropped to an eerie whisper. "Let us go. It is ti for us to raise a ruckus."
anwhile, inside the auction house of the Mirror World.
The crimson curtains on the auction stage had been drawn up. The guests from various Yakuza Families broke into applause, instantly elevating the atmosphere in the venue, with so guests even letting out loud cheers.
Imdiately after, a pair of hosts—one male, one female—stepped onto the stage, reciting their prepared scripts to hype up the crowd.
The man had a dopey, honest look about him, resembling a golden retriever. With his thick, short eyebrows raised, he constantly wore a gentle smile. The woman, wearing a cyan-blue dress, took charge of enlivening the atmosphere, wielding a microphone to tease and stir the emotions of the guests.
Blue Arc crossed his arms, quietly watching the scene unfold.
Suddenly, he received a flurry of text ssages. He took out his mobile phone to check.
[Black Cocoon: The leader of the White Raven Brigade is right there among you. He is both an Exorcist and a Superhuman, and he also participated in the bodyguard team during the last auction, which is why he managed to slip under your radar.]
[Black Cocoon: Think carefully. He is hiding among the Exorcists in the core bodyguard team.]
The mont he received the ssages, Blue Arc paused in shock.
He stared at the text from Black Cocoon, ntally reviewing the several Exorcists in the core bodyguard team... There was no need to question the mbers of the Ghost Train Gang; it was impossible for a mole to appear on Ke Qirui's side. That ant the brigade leader could only be mingling among the Japanese personnel.
Excluding Kyomori, that only left Fuyuyama Nobunaga, whose Celestial Drive was a long saber, and Haihara Ritsu, whose Celestial Drive was playing cards.
But Fuyuyama Nobunaga had been continuously serving the Exorcist Association over the past few years, and records of his operations could be found everywhere.
So through a process of elimination, there was only one remaining possibility.
At that realization, Blue Arc jerked his head around, only to discover that Haihara Ritsu had silently vanished.
'Just as I thought... That guy is the leader of the White Raven Brigade?' This thought flashed through Blue Arc's mind. Frowning deeply, he surveyed his surroundings, searching the massive auction house for any trace of Haihara Ritsu.
The next mont, Blue Arc's gaze snapped toward the stage. The first item up for auction had already been wheeled out, and the staff were hastily retreating behind the curtains.
The female host was explaining the debut item in a high-pitched, enthusiastic voice.
anwhile, the male host silently crouched down, retrieving a square chanical box and a pistol from the cart the staff had pushed out.
"Bang!"
In that instant, a sudden gunshot shattered the cheerful laughter echoing throughout the auction house.
The guests instantly fell dead silent, snapping their heads up to look at the stage.
The male host, who had looked as gentle and harmless as a golden retriever just a mont ago, was now clutching a pistol, smoke still drifting from its barrel. Beside him, a bloody hole had suddenly appeared in the female host's head.
Her face frozen in disbelief, she slowly collapsed onto the floor of the stage with a heavy thud.
The male host then backed away toward the wall, slipping the square chanical box onto his head. When he looked up again, it was as if he had transford into a completely different person.
It was unmistakably... the appearance of mber No. 7 of the White Raven Brigade—Robert.
Black Cocoon's Restraining Band Avatar sat in the audience, quietly watching the scene unfold. He arched an eyebrow, thinking to himself, 'I see... Robert took off the square chanical box he usually wears and snuck into the auction's internal staff alongside the leader.'
He typed on his mobile phone, sending a ssage to Blue Arc.
[Black Cocoon: Mr. Blue Arc, I suggest you stop him imdiately. That male host is mber No. 7 of the brigade. His supernatural ability is opening a wooden door that connects different locations.]
At that mont, Robert offered a slight bow to the guests from the stage, his voice echoing out from the chanical box in a tallic timbre. "Well then... esteed guests, I will now open the gates of Hell for you."
With that said, amidst the dead silence, Robert slowly walked toward the wall behind him.
In that split second, dark blue electric arcs violently erupted from Blue Arc's body.
But just as he prepared to dash forward, a flock of tens of thousands of ravens blocked his path, forming a vast, gray curtain. Blue Arc subconsciously halted his steps. Raising his head slowly, he muttered, "The supernatural ability of raven manipulation... The leader of... the White Raven Brigade?"
Blue Arc narrowed his eyes, staring at the figure surrounded by the swarm of ravens.
Pitch-black ravens danced and circled in midair, swirling into a tempest.
And Haihara Ritsu had sohow already appeared right in the center of the flock, less than ten ters away from Blue Arc.
He took off his round-rimd glasses, his face completely devoid of emotion. His deep, profound pupils perfectly reflected Blue Arc's face.
"Qi Yuanli... that is my real na," the young man said slowly, staring intently at Blue Arc. "And I am also the leader of the White Raven Brigade. It is a pleasure to et you, Mr. Blue Arc."
As his voice faded, the young man nad Qi Yuanli turned his head, casting an emotionless gaze over the guests in the auction house, who were completely frozen in shock.
"It just so happens that while in the bodyguard team, I managed to secure the job of checking whether the guests were wearing human skin masks."
Qi Yuanli clasped his hands behind his back, his long jet-black hair whipping in the wind alongside the swirling ravens.
He lowered his dark, deep eyes, speaking with an impassive expression.
"During that inspection, I played a little prank. I slipped a playing card into the suit pocket of every single guest in the venue. They are likely completely oblivious to it."
At this point, Qi Yuanli paused slightly and slowly turned his head back.
He looked directly into Blue Arc's eyes. "So... care to guess, Mr. Blue Arc, what will happen to these hundred or so guests with playing cards in their pockets?"
Blue Arc's pupils contracted sharply.
In the very next second, a deafening explosion ripped through the interior of the auction house.
An intense, searing heat suddenly erupted from the suit pockets of over a hundred Yakuza Family VIPs. The playing cards transford into towering pillars of fire, completely engulfing the bodies of every guest, along with the seats beneath them.
In an instant, violent, brilliant flas completely consud Blue Arc's field of vision.
The continuous roars of the explosions lasted for a full five seconds before finally stopping. Imdiately afterward, the entire auction house fell into a deathly silence, and the thick stench of blood washed over the area like a torrential storm.
"No..." Blue Arc muttered hoarsely, slowly turning his head to look.
After a long while, the thick smoke wrapped in a dripping red hue slowly dispersed. He saw that the figures in the guest seating had not been completely wiped out as he had imagined.
There were exactly three surviving figures remaining among the guests:
Li Qingping sat motionless in his seat, his legs crossed and his fingers interlaced. His black suit remained absolutely pristine, without a single speck of dust on it.
Beside him, the Second Prince sat with a dumbfounded look on his face, already shielded by the Octoprism—the very sa Anecdote Fragnt that Li Qingping had used to trap Black Cocoon the other day.
Blue Arc stared blankly, then raised his eyes toward the final guest who had survived the blast.
To his absolute astonishnt... that guest was sleeping soundly, utterly motionless in his seat.
That was right... He was still asleep.
Zhou Jiuya had his elbow resting on the armrest and his fist propped against his cheek, napping as if entirely detached from the mortal world. A faint, golden layer of light enveloped his body, completely isolating him from the outside world.
As the aftershocks of the explosion dissipated, the auction house was left completely silent. One could even hear Zhou Jiuya's light snoring.
At the sa ti, up on the auction stage that had not been affected by the explosion in the slightest.
mber No. 7, Robert, slowly walked over to the back wall of the stage. He pressed his right hand against it and effortlessly conjured a wooden door.
Then, he turned the doorknob.
He pushed the wooden door open, revealing the clear image of an abandoned building on the other side.
From above that abandoned building, the resounding roar of thunder mixed with the howling wind and rain bled straight into the auction house.
At this very mont, ten mbers of the White Raven Brigade were scattered atop the ruins.
Noticing the wooden door that had suddenly appeared in a corner of the ruins, the ten figures turned their heads in unison. They gazed expressionlessly into the auction house behind the door, their eyes flashing with bizarre glints in the darkness.
It was like a stare from the abyss.
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