July 22nd, in the skies above northern Italy. The plane carrying the three brigade mbers was already very close to its destination. It was expected to land at Venice International Airport in three minutes.
In first class, Xia Pingzhou slowly opened his eyes to see a piece of napkin wrapped around so fruit hovering in mid-air. It was the kimono-clad girl beside him using her supernatural ability to pass him the fruit.
He ate the cherry tomato in one bite, then bit down on the apple.
The napkin then drifted away gracefully and fell into the trash can. He cast a sideways glance and saw Ayase Origami keeping her eyes lowered, engrossed in a book, while her other hand held an apple that she took a delicate bite from.
The roaring of the engines gradually faded, turning into a low hum. The plane slowly descended through the clouds, its landing gear deploying before making a smooth touchdown.
The cabin lights slowly dimd, and a voice sounded over the intercom: "We have arrived at Venice International Airport. Passengers, please ensure you have all your personal belongings before disembarking, and confirm in advance whether you have collected your luggage."
Xia Pingzhou remained in his seat, sluggishly eating his fruit while unlocking his phone to switch ti zones. Lijing ti was seven hours ahead of Venice ti. It was only noon here, but it was almost evening for Host Body One.
The Jack the Ripper girl stood up, walked to the center aisle, and turned her head to look at Xia Pingzhou. "By the way."
"What is it?" Xia Pingzhou asked.
"An Lunsi asked
to say thank you on his behalf," Jack the Ripper said carelessly, her eyes lowered.
"Thank
for what?"
"You healed his face."
"You are welco," Ayase Origami answered on Xia Pingzhou's behalf while continuing to read, her voice light and clear.
After speaking, she stood up with the Haiku Collection in her hand and shuffled toward the cabin exit.
Xia Pingzhou looked at Ayase Origami's back, then silently looked at Jack the Ripper. While putting on his jacket, he asked her,
"What about you? Are you not going to thank ?"
"Rather than thanking you for healing my face," Jack the Ripper paused, "I should thank you for knocking out the Young Mistress back then."
She tilted her head slightly, glancing at Ayase Origami's departing figure. Ayase Origami had spoken very little over the past two days. To be fair, this Yakuza Young Mistress was naturally a woman of few words, but being in a bad mood made it even worse. She had turned into a complete wooden doll.
"Why thank ?" Xia Pingzhou's face was expressionless. "To be honest, I was initially worried that you guys would take your anger out on
or isolate . As a newcor, that would not be a good ending for ."
"If she had wanted to attack the Lake Hunt mbers back then, none of us would have stopped her," Jack the Ripper said. "Our chances of winning were slim... If we fought to the death, taking him down was certainly not impossible, but many would have died. It is highly likely that only the Leader would have been left standing."
"So, you should actually thank
for being a newcor. Because I did not have a deep friendship with any of you, I was able to make the most rational judgnt at that ti."
"Pretty much," Jack the Ripper said. "We can exchange contact information. I will let you know when the new mber arrives in the city... assuming you want to et him, that is."
Xia Pingzhou shook his head. "There is no need. We can just communicate through Hacker; it is safer that way."
Jack the Ripper shrugged. "That works too."
"Could you at least reveal the new mber's na to ?"
"Co et him yourself later." Jack the Ripper looked up at him. "Are you really that curious?"
"It is nothing." Xia Pingzhou shook his head. "I just miss Lan Duo Duo. It feels like she has not been dead for long, so it is very strange that her place in the brigade has been so easily replaced."
"That is the rule of the brigade. If you die, soone will replace you. The sa goes for , and even the Leader is no exception... If you do not want to die, make yourself stronger."
Jack the Ripper responded expressionlessly.
'But when I get stronger... you will be the one to die,' Xia Pingzhou silently replied in his heart.
The two disembarked from the plane one after another. Walking down the stairway from the exit to the airport lobby, it did not take long for them to spot Ayase Origami. The airport's security equipnt had been fully hacked by Hacker, so they left the airport without any obstacles.
The fierce midsumr sun of Venice beat down on the trio. Xia Pingzhou felt slightly dizzy. It was not from motion sickness from the plane, but because switching his consciousness between multiple bodies simultaneously created a sense of disconnect. Over ti, this evolved into a ntal burden that was more than ten tis worse than the feeling of airsickness.
After a mont, Xia Pingzhou narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up.
Venice's title as the "City of Water" was well-deserved. As far as the eye could see, the water surface was a brilliant erald, its ripples sparkling brightly in the sunlight. White bridges connected the islands one by one, ultimately forming this city of a hundred isles.
Jack the Ripper cast a glance at the two. "I am leaving. I heard the newcor will arrive tonight; you can co and et him then."
Too busy admiring the scenery under the scorching sun, Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami simply nodded gently in response.
A piece of paper flew out from Ayase Origami's cuff, transforming into a tiny hand that gently tugged at Xia Pingzhou's sleeve.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Let's ride that," she said.
Xia Pingzhou followed her gaze, and entering his sight was a sightseeing gondola floating on the water's surface.
Monts later, the two went down the steps to the shore, paid the boatman, and boarded the small sightseeing boat.
The boat drifted forward at a leisurely pace. The two sides of the canal were lined with streets, and the display racks outside the shops were filled with a dazzling array of goods. Clusters of flowers adorned a wooden bookstore sign.
The wooden boat swayed gently, parting the clear water, while the reflections of the brick-red old houses on both banks shattered into shimring ripples. The boatman pushed his long pole, guiding them through narrow alleys. On the mottled walls, checkered aprons were tied to clotheslines, and patches of wisteria hung down from the balconies.
Occasionally, a waterfront cafe would push open its wooden windows, allowing the aroma of coffee to mix with the sea breeze and brush past their noses.
With the sleeves of her ochre kimono hanging down, Ayase Origami sat at the stern of the boat. The scenery of the city was reflected in her slightly hollow eyes.
Under the sunlight, the bell tower of St. Mark's Square pierced through the clouds, and the golden winged lion statue stood tall upon the do of the Doge's Palace. The stone carvings of the Rialto Bridge had been polished to a shine by the passage of ti, while rchant ships and gondolas passed back and forth beneath it.
The boy and the girl sat in silence at the stern.
The sightseeing boat passed through one bridge arch after another. The world turned bright, then dark, and bright again. Every ti they passed through a bridge arch, it felt as if a new painting was slowly unrolling before their eyes.
"Have you ever been to Venice?" Xia Pingzhou asked suddenly.
"No."
"It is my first ti, too."
"Let
ask you a question."
"What question?"
"Takikage said... when soone important dies, a person sheds tears."
"And then?"
"But when he died... I did not shed any tears." Ayase Origami paused. "Why?"
"Is that not perfectly normal?" Xia Pingzhou thought for a mont. "You feel like a doll to . You wear the sa kimono every day, have the sa flat expression, and speak with the sa flat tone. I cannot even imagine what you would look like crying."
"No one ever taught
how to be human." Ayase Origami lowered her eyes, gazing at her blurred reflection on the water's surface.
"Why?"
Ayase Origami remained silent for a while. In the end, she did not answer his question, but instead said:
"Done sightseeing. Let's buy clothes." "Right, you did say you wanted to buy clothes back in Tokyo," Xia Pingzhou said, glancing at the kimono Ayase Origami was wearing.
"I have never bought them myself. Takikage used to buy them in the past."
"You always wear the exact sa style of kimono anyway. What is the difference between buying clothes and regularly restocking inventory?"
"...Hiss."
Ayase Origami shot him a glance, seemingly a little angry... This was the first ti Xia Pingzhou had seen her frown slightly. Or rather, she seed to want to show that she was angry, but ultimately, the only expression left on her face was confusion.
She lowered her eyes in thought, then looked up at him again. "Would it be weird if I wore other clothes?"
Xia Pingzhou shook his head.
A flock of white doves was startled at the bow of the boat, scattering pristine white feathers over the surface of the water.
Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami disembarked and strolled along the marble-paved streets. They found a modern fashion boutique hidden away in a quiet alley.
A shop assistant approached with a smile, introducing the store's designer clothing to them in standard English.
Ayase Origami blanked out for a mont. Growing up, she clearly had zero fashion sense, so whenever the assistant presented her with a new dress, she would turn her head and ask for Xia Pingzhou's opinion.
Xia Pingzhou largely ignored her, his mind instead occupied with wondering whether he could find suitable diapers for Su Zimai in this place.
Eventually, Ayase Origami decided to simply try them on one by one. Xia Pingzhou stood waiting with his arms crossed outside the fitting room. Every ti the pale-skinned girl pulled open the curtain, she was dressed in a completely different outfit—sotis a Lolita dress, sotis a Gothic-style dress, sotis a high-collared trench coat...
Only at tis like this did Xia Pingzhou feel that she was not a doll, but a living, breathing person.
The girl's face was as coldly beautiful as a painting. Even in the heat of midsumr, her features seed like a patch of snow that would never lt.
Every ti she lifted her hollow eyes to seek his opinion, he would either spread his hands, shake his head, or rest his chin in his hand as if deep in thought. Yet, halfway through his contemplation, Ayase Origami would decisively draw the curtain shut, seemingly determined to find an outfit that would satisfy him at first glance.
The shop assistants, on the other hand, squealed at her cuteness the entire ti. They kept telling her she would definitely make it big as a model while snapping photos with their phones, even planning to print the pictures as promotional material for the storefront.
It was not until the end that they realized their phone caras had been covered by a thin slip of paper, leaving the resulting photos completely pitch black.
It was not until Ayase Origami changed into her sixteenth outfit that Xia Pingzhou finally nodded in satisfaction.
"But... what makes this one special?" She lifted her arms slightly, looking down at the British-style long dress she was wearing, a grey hair clip fastened in her hair.
"Actually, I thought they all looked pretty good. I just wanted to see you try on more clothes," Xia Pingzhou said.
"Why?"
"It was novel. Like watching a doll co to life."
"Kitten, no hissing..." When she said this, Ayase Origami's light and clear tone seed to shift. It was hard to tell whether she was happy or angry.
She always made it impossible for people to figure her out.
In the end, Xia Pingzhou bought every piece of clothing Ayase Origami had tried on. The funds Hacker had transferred to his bank card were virtually inexhaustible, not to ntion the absurd amount of cash he would receive once the auction items were fully resold.
Because there were too many clothes, Xia Pingzhou asked the shop assistants to deliver them to their reserved hotel that evening.
Inside the fitting room, she changed back into her ochre kimono.
Just as they were about to walk out of the boutique, Ayase Origami raised a slender finger and tugged at his sleeve, pulling him back.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Buying clothes for the kitten," the kimono-clad girl enunciated word by word.
Xia Pingzhou stopped in his tracks, turned to et her icy gaze, and then let out a helpless sigh:
"Alright."
The two switched roles. Ayase Origami picked out several well-fitting outfits for Xia Pingzhou, ranging from suits and dress shirts to hoodies and pajamas.
Expressionless, Ayase Origami offered no feedback from start to finish. She simply scrutinized Xia Pingzhou like a stationary doll every ti he stepped out of the fitting room.
She looked just like an iron-faced judge.
It was not until a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on her pale cheeks that this excessively exhausting fitting session officially ended. Giving him a taste of his own dicine, Ayase Origami bought every single piece of clothing Xia Pingzhou had tried on.
By the ti they snapped back to reality, it was almost dusk. They found a table at a nearby Western restaurant. Just then, three figures pushed open the wooden doors and walked in, approaching them.
Xia Pingzhou looked up. Entering his line of sight was a woman in a red dress with long, pale golden hair; a man wearing a white cape with a white cataract over his left eye; and an older man dressed in Western cowboy attire.
The blonde woman, as exquisite as a vampire, tugged at the corner of her lips, revealing a playful smile. She said:
"Say my na."
"Love-crazed old hag." "Old hag."
Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami answered in unison, their tones so indifferent they sounded like robots manufactured in the exact sa factory.
Blood Progenitor's expression instantly darkened. She gritted out word by word: "Outside. One on one."
"Hey... do not trash this place. I still want to grab a drink," Andrew scratched his head helplessly.
"How childish," White Wolf said expressionlessly.
The three of them sat down on the sofa opposite Xia Pingzhou.
"Can you guys not be so intimidating?" Xia Pingzhou asked. "I thought the police had co knocking at my door."
"Did we not specifically co looking for you because we heard you arrived?" Blood Progenitor smiled.
Xia Pingzhou said, "I only heard there are a lot of demons here, so I ca to scout out a demon to form a contract with. Once I find one, I will leave."
"Demons usually appear more frequently at night," White Wolf said.
"Hearing a demon say that is quite convincing." Xia Pingzhou took a sip of his whiskey.
"By the way, have you t the newcor? The one taking over the Number Five spot," Blood Progenitor asked casually, resting her chin on her hand as her crimson eyes stared at Xia Pingzhou.
"Not yet." Xia Pingzhou shook his head. "What is the newcor's na?"
Blood Progenitor thought for a mont. "According to the Leader, his na is 'Bernardo Edward', and he possesses a Generational-tier Wonder fragnt." She paused. "I am not sure exactly what it is, but Hacker told us we had better be careful around this newcor."
Bernardo Edward...
Xia Pingzhou was slightly startled. He clearly rembered this na. Not only had Xize'er ntioned this person, but he had also seen this na during the ga's character creation process:
— Bernardo is the leader of the Black Death Cult, the holder of the Generational-tier Wonder fragnt, "Black Death"!
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