The Train Demon arrived in London at 7:00 PM local ti on July 25.
Night had just fallen, leaving only a lingering sar of sunset red draped over the River Thas. Striking the top of the hour, Big Ben tolled three deep, resonant chis—Bong... bong... bong...—that echoed throughout the entire tropolis.
The brightly lit carriage illuminated the weeds growing along the tracks as Black Cocoon pushed open the door and stepped out first.
He stretched his back and cracked the joints in his arms. "That was unexpectedly exhausting."
At that exact mont, a dark red text prompt popped up in front of Black Cocoon.
[Main Quest 3 (Phase 4) Updated — Assist the Ghost Train Gang in capturing the berserk evil Exorcist, "Red Traffic Light".]
"Just as I expected..." Black Cocoon shrugged and dismissed the panel. He had guessed the contents of this tid quest several days ago.
"See you tomorrow morning then, Mr. Black Cocoon." Ke Qirui stepped out of the carriage, her hands tucked into the pockets of her trench coat. "I will contact you on your mobile phone before the operation begins."
"Alright."
Black Cocoon gave a casual reply. He raised a hand, shooting out restraining bands to wrap around the station eaves. Applying his Gravity Distribution, he spread his body weight evenly across each band. Like a weightless paper doll, he hoisted himself up and swung away, vanishing beneath the blood-red sky.
Su Zimai tilted her head back to watch him leave, then turned to exchange a glance with Ke Qirui.
"Leader, can we really trust him?" she asked.
"What are you saying? Aren't you the one who trusts him the most out of all of us here?" Ke Qirui patted the top of her head.
Xu Sanyan exited the carriage next. "Have we finally gotten rid of that giant bug?"
"Instead of complaining, why don't you think about what good food there is to eat in London?" Lin Zhengquan followed close behind, stepping onto the platform.
Ke Qirui offered a faint smile. "At a ti like this, Maimai will naturally lead the way. She is our resident food expert, after all."
"Let's go." Su Zimai lowered her head, silently opening a lifestyle app on her mobile phone. As she walked toward the exit of the abandoned train station, she muttered, "It's rare for us to visit London, so we absolutely have to try all the local delicacies. Especially since the Leader is treating us!"
"Ho, so the Leader's wallet doesn't count as a real wallet?" Ke Qirui bit down on her pipe and turned to look at her.
"Nope."
"I get it. Our Maimai only cares about her dear brothers."
"Neither of my brothers act like normal humans. Wouldn't caring about them just be asking for trouble?"
"Here we go again, Maimai's classic saying one thing but aning another."
"Shut up. From now on, Leader, you need to rember your role. You are nothing but a giant, walking wallet."
"Alright, alright, Maimai can eat whatever her heart desires."
At the sa ti, in another corner of London.
A cruise ship slowly sailed forward along the River Thas. Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami sat together on the deck, quietly gazing out at the Westminster district draped in the evening dusk.
Xia Pingzhou looked up at the giant Ferris wheel in the distance, rummaging through his mind for mories related to Red Traffic Light.
It happened two years ago, shortly after Xia Pingzhou had joined the Exorcist Association. A young Exorcist nad Shi Yimin began relentlessly pestering him.
Shi Yimin enthusiastically invited Xia Pingzhou to join his squad. Even after being rejected multiple tis, he was never discouraged. Every ti he was t with Xia Pingzhou's cold deanor, he would simply turn back to his teammates, force a laugh, and mumble to them:
"What's with those looks? Even the legendary strategist Zhuge Liang required three personal visits before he joined a cause. What's wrong with
trying a few more tis?"
At that ti, Xia Pingzhou still had a whole and healthy family. Coupled with his outstanding talent, he was highly regarded by the President the mont he joined the Exorcist Association. Having no real ambitions or pressure, he only wanted to coast through his days.
Seeing that multiple rejections failed to deter Shi Yimin, he eventually caved in and accepted the invitation, joining his Exorcist squad.
Most Exorcists believed that such a low-ranking team was entirely unworthy of soone evaluated with double S-grade potential like Xia Pingzhou.
But whenever Shi Yimin heard these whispers, he would simply pat his shoulder and promise that he would lead this team to the absolute peak of the Exorcist Association, telling Xia Pingzhou to ignore their nonsense.
No matter how heavy the pressure from public opinion beca, Shi Yimin never once considered letting Xia Pingzhou go.
After spending so ti together, Xia Pingzhou gradually got to know the people in the squad.
The Captain, Shi Yimin, was a cheerful man without a manipulative bone in his body. He explained that as a child, he thought the traffic cops standing by the roads were incredibly cool. Since he had always dread of directing traffic, his Celestial Drive naturally manifested as a traffic light capable of switching between red, yellow, and green.
When he told that story, the rest of the team laughed until they were gasping for air. He rely scratched the back of his head and laughed right along with them.
Xia Pingzhou possessed a naturally aloof temperant. When Ke Qirui—who also shared double S-grade potential within the Association—tried to befriend him, he rejected her flat out.
However, his relationship with Shi Yimin was relatively good. After operations, Shi Yimin would frequently drag him out for drinks to freely discuss their life ideals.
Shi Yimin often praised Xia Pingzhou in front of the team, calling him a once-in-a-generation genius who would undoubtedly beco the strongest Exorcist given enough ti. Shi Yimin declared that he had to beco a man worthy of being called Captain by such a phenonal Exorcist.
The team's atmosphere was harmonious—right up until a certain demon extermination mission. During the operation, Shi Yimin suddenly went completely berserk. He fell to his knees, his eyes bloodshot, and frantically clawed at his own face as if trying to rip it to shreds.
The teammates who rushed forward out of concern were pulverized into at paste by Shi Yimin's traffic light. In an instant, blood sprayed across the street, leaving mangled corpses strewn everywhere. Xia Pingzhou was the only one left standing, frozen in the biting wind. Ultimately, Xia Pingzhou did not choose to fight the crazed Shi Yimin; instead, he had his Huanghou Shixiang carry him away, fleeing the bloodbath.
Xia Pingzhou beca the sole survivor of that massacre.
Not long after, Shi Yimin beca an infamous serial killer, earning the terrifying moniker of the evil Exorcist—Red Traffic Light.
After brutally murdering Exorcists, Red Traffic Light would invariably leave behind a string of Latin letters translating to the Salvation Society at the cri scenes. This was precisely the detail that Ji Minghuan cared about the most.
The reason Xia Pingzhou initially joined the White Raven Brigade was twofold: to seek revenge against Jack the Ripper, and to investigate exactly why Shi Yimin had suddenly gone mad... And now, it was glaringly obvious that the cause was intrinsically linked to the Salvation Society.
Ti swiftly shifted to the present mont—the twenty-fifth of July.
By tomorrow morning, both the Ghost Train Gang and the Salvation Society would officially launch their respective operations to capture Red Traffic Light.
The outco of this operation would implicate a great many things. If Ji Minghuan ultimately managed to capture Red Traffic Light, it would an he had finally grabbed hold of the Salvation Society's tail, freeing himself from his totally passive, ignorant state.
It might even allow him... to unearth the true nature of the Salvation Society.
"Kitten... you're spacing out again." The kimono-clad girl beside him suddenly spoke up, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"I'm just looking at the scenery," Xia Pingzhou replied casually.
Following his gaze, Ayase Origami also looked up toward the Ferris wheel on the South Bank. The sun slowly dipped below the edge of the horizon, gradually drawing back the golden twilight spilling over the city and cloaking the Ferris wheel's carriages in a gloomy curtain of shadows.
A gentle breeze drifted past, causing the soft strands of hair by the kimono girl's ears to sway lightly like bird feathers.
"Let's ride that," she whispered after a long silence.
"Sure."
Not long after, the two disembarked from the cruise ship and entered the amusent park on the South Bank of the Thas. After paying the attendant, they boarded the colossal Ferris wheel. The massive structure began to rotate, and their carriage slowly ascended.
Sitting inside the swaying carriage, Ayase Origami pressed herself against the window, her eyes lowered to survey the city bathed in the last remnants of the setting sun.
"This... is quite nice," she said suddenly.
"What do you an?" Xia Pingzhou lifted his gaze to look at her side profile illuminated by the fading daylight.
"Traveling the world with Kitten."
"What's so nice about it?"
"Tokyo, Venice, London... I want to visit many more places in the future."
Xia Pingzhou remained silent for a mont. "Then in the future... how about we bring soone along when we travel the world?"
"Who?"
"A white-haired girl. She's a bit dense and looks like a penguin."
"Who is she?"
"She is my... family."
The kimono girl stayed quiet for a mont. "Your family?"
"Yes."
"You've never ntioned her to ."
Her voice was as clear and serene as always, yet it seed to carry a faint trace of loneliness.
"Because mbers of the White Raven Brigade don't need a past." Xia Pingzhou lowered his head, staring at his clasped hands. "We are just a bunch of outlaws who could die at any mont. And even if we die, we'll be replaced instantly. Just like Lan Duo Duo."
Ayase Origami raised her eyes to look at him, then averted her gaze. After a long pause, she spoke, "If she is your family, then I will treat her as my family, too."
Xia Pingzhou was briefly stunned before turning his head to look out the window. "But... maybe a month from now, you'll suddenly decide you don't want to travel the world with
anymore."
"Why?"
Xia Pingzhou shook his head, offering no answer.
At that mont, the sun plumted completely below the horizon, taking the final rays of daylight with it. The city plunged into boundless darkness, swiftly followed by the glowing streetlamps that flickered on one after another. Soon, the entire city was brightly illuminated.
When Xia Pingzhou snapped back to reality, he realized that the doll-like girl sitting opposite him had been staring at him the entire ti. Her eyes, seemingly shrouded in a gentle mist, clearly reflected his face.
She seed to still be waiting for his answer.
With a dull clunk, the carriage returned to the bottom of the Ferris wheel, and the raucous noise of the amusent park flooded in through the window. Amidst their silence, the joyful laughter of children gradually faded away into the distance.
The sky had darkened entirely, leaving only Xia Pingzhou's faint voice drifting through the carriage.
"Let's head back and rest," he said.
"Why?"
She asked yet again.
Xia Pingzhou tilted his head. He remained quiet for a mont before suddenly reaching his hand out to her.
The kimono girl sat motionless like a pristine porcelain doll for a second before grasping his palm. Xia Pingzhou led her out of the carriage and off the Ferris wheel. He bought her a stick of cotton candy from a street vendor, and then the two walked across the 325-ter-long Millennium Bridge, strolling all the way back to their hotel.
Ayase Origami didn't speak another word after that. She simply sat by the window, quietly reading her haiku collection.
Xia Pingzhou kept her company on the windowsill. Resting his head on his hand, he quietly admired the night view of London's Westminster district. The spires and towers of the Houses of Parliant were brilliantly lit by the golden glow radiating from Big Ben, harmoniously reflecting off the waters of the River Thas.
Without them realizing it, the hour shifted to midnight.
Bong... bong... bong... Big Ben chid again. The colossal bell kept ti every fifteen minutes and struck three tis at the top of the hour.
Amidst the resonant ringing, Xia Pingzhou abruptly asked, "Between
and Jack the Ripper... who is more important to you?"
Ayase Origami paused, looking up from her pages to study his face.
'Is he acting spoiled?' she thought, unable to co to any other conclusion.
Xia Pingzhou stayed quiet for a long while before finally speaking. "You treat
incredibly well. No one has ever treated
this well before."
"The truth is, I don't have parents. I'm just an... orphan. I grew up in an orphanage, and everyone hated . To protect the only person I cared about, I always had to pretend to be strong. But in reality, I am just so terribly exhausted. Yet, I couldn't say a word about it to anyone..."
He lowered his voice to a faint murmur. "Haven't you always wanted to know what my past was like? This is my past."
The night wind breezed through the open window, ruffling Xia Pingzhou's hair and wildly flipping the pages of the haiku collection.
Ayase Origami raised her eyes and then lowered them again, silently observing him. For so inexplicable reason, she felt that when Xia Pingzhou said those words, he had completely transford into a different person. He had stripped away all his defenses, laying bare an incredibly fragile, vulnerable side... almost exactly like a helpless child.
It was the very first ti she had ever detected a trace of apprehension and insecurity on the face of this typically robot-like human.
"Even if I..." Xia Pingzhou's lips parted slightly, forming the words soundlessly, "even if I betrayed you, lied to you... used you, would you still stand by my side?"
The kimono girl did not hear his silent plea. Moving as delicately as a paper kite carried by the wind, she slowly, ever so slowly leaned forward and pulled his head into a tender embrace.
"You are... more important than anyone," she whispered softly.
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