July 11th, 11:30 a.m., Lijing, Guyimai Neighborhood.
The rain was letting up. White mist crawled up the floor-to-ceiling windows like a gecko.
Ji Minghuan lay on the soft bed, his arm as a pillow, staring blankly out the window.
He gazed at the rain-shrouded cityscape for a while, expressionless.
With a rhythmic tapping sound, large raindrops slid down the glass, spiraling off and falling onto the signs along the street.
His bloodstained tailcoat and mask were tossed beside the bed.
As he sorted through the intel he’d gathered that morning, he used the Binding Restraint to put his uniform back into the cardboard box beneath the wardrobe, sealing the box with duct tape.
“The headmaster said: the people who took my real body and Kong Youling had uniforms with a hexagram symbol.”
“And that symbol just happens to be the exact sa one left at every cri scene by the deranged Exorcist ‘Traffic Light.’ After each murder, he’d write a line of Latin next to the symbol, which ant ‘Salvation Society.’”
Ji Minghuan closed his eyes and switched consciousness to "Xia Pingzhou" in a hotel sowhere in Tokyo.
He pulled up the Quest Log.
[Main Quest 3: Find clues about “your forr teammate,” the deranged Exorcist — ‘Traffic Light’.]
Familiar with the process, he smoothly switched back to Gu Wenyu’s perspective, opened his eyes, and stared at the ceiling.
He thought, “The key thing is what the Instructor once told : he doesn’t belong to the Reality-altering Esper Association, or the Exorcist Association, and definitely not the Anecdote Envoys. That pretty much confirms it—they’re part of this so-called ‘Salvation Society.’”
“Now that I’ve confird this, all I need to do is find ‘Traffic Light.’ I can use Binding Restraint Verity to force the truth out of him—find out what exactly the Salvation Society is, what their goal is, and maybe even where their base is.”
Ji Minghuan raised his right hand and looked quietly at the Binding Restraint coiled around his fingertips.
“From what I can tell... the Salvation Society probably has inside agents planted within the Esper Association. Otherwise, how do you explain how quickly they get information?”
“Helping Gu Qiye infiltrate Rainbow Wing and get into the top levels of the UN organization—he should be able to help
track down traces of the Salvation Society...”
“Once I find the Research Facility’s location, things will get easier: I’ll build up strength, wait for the right mont. On my own, there’s no way. I’ll have to find a way to involve the Esper Association, the White Crow Brigade, the Exorcist Association, and even Dad’s criminal faction. Figuring out how to draw them all in... that’s a tough nut to crack.”
As he thought, Ji Minghuan scrolled through the System Panel and suddenly rembered: “Oh right... what does that Event Card I got this morning actually do?”
He opened the “Event Card Log.” The first card slotted was “Caged Bird.”
[Event Card Na: Caged Bird]
[Effect: When you are hit by any ‘control-type’ ability, you may discard this card to nullify the effect.]
[Value: Selling this card yields 1 Skill Point.]
“Can be sold for a Skill Point. Nah... better keep it. Might co in handy later.”
Listening to the light rain, Ji Minghuan suddenly felt drowsy.
He yawned and thodically closed all the miscellaneous system panels.
As his eyelids fell shut, three overlapping perspectives erged in his mind. Each body lay asleep in the dark, and every one of their senses was activated:
It was raining in Tokyo, raining in Lijing, but inside the Detention Room it was utterly silent—like being at the bottom of an ocean miles deep.
This month in solitary confinent had taught Ji Minghuan a valuable truth: people need a little noise to sleep soundly.
Before he awakened his Esper ability, falling asleep in the Detention Room had been nearly impossible.
He’d tried every trick he learned back in the orphanage—counting sheep, breath control, ntal math with pi... he tried them all.
But now, there was no need. The patter of rain was the perfect lullaby.
His thoughts sank into the darkness, like falling into the cradle of his deepest consciousness. Before long, a voice as cold and hard as iron pulled him from his sleep.
“Restricted-level Esper, ID No. 1002 — ‘Ji Minghuan’, Instructor visit. Prepare for interrogation.”
Ji Minghuan’s eyes flew open. The silver-white ceiling ca into view. A cold surveillance cara stared straight at his face like a silent judge delivering its sentence.
He turned his head on the pillow to see the massive tal doors swing open. The Instructor stepped in, calm and slow.
“What now, Instructor... I barely slept and here you are ruining what little rest I got. Impressive, as always.”
Ji Minghuan grumbled listlessly, not even bothering to get up. He just put his arms behind his head and stayed lying down like a dried-out corpse.
“Your headmaster is dead,” the Instructor said as he sat down.
Ji Minghuan visibly froze, then slowly turned his head, startled.
“That old man... is dead?” he asked in disbelief, his voice a bit hoarse.
The Instructor nodded. “It happened this morning. According to the investigation by Lijing Esper Association’s agent ‘Blue Arc,’ your headmaster hanged himself in his office at 8:30 a.m. His cris were also exposed to the public... Turns out he imprisoned a parentless girl in the basent for several years and committed all kinds of inhumane acts against her. Now the whole of Lijing is talking about it.”
“Hanged himself?” Ji Minghuan repeated blankly, then asked, “What’s the na of the girl he locked up?”
“Xu Keyin.”
“How did they find out... she was in the basent?”
“Blue Arc received an anonymous call. It was the headmaster who called him. When Blue Arc arrived at the office, he found the headmaster already dead. Before hanging himself, the headmaster had written a confession email on his computer—it wasn’t sent yet, but it told Blue Arc where to find the girl.”
Upon hearing this, Ji Minghuan froze for a mont, then couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.
“Good job, Big Brother. That’s one hell of a cover story. Wrapped it up so perfectly.”
A few hours ago, Ji Minghuan had indeed asked Gu Qiye to help stage the murder scene. That was no surprise. He figured Gu Qiye was the sa kind of person—soone who thought the headmaster deserved to die.
But what he hadn’t expected... was that soone as upright as Gu Qiye could lie so well, without flinching.
To the public, Esper “Blue Arc” was a national hero. No one would ever suspect him of falsifying the story. The Esper Association wouldn’t question him either.
Given the timing, the public was drowning in shock and rage. Nobody cared how the headmaster died. What mattered was that he was dead.
Whether it was suicide or murder made no real difference to them.
And no one would ever guess... that the man who actually killed the headmaster was the newly erged Esper—Black Cocoon.
If the Instructor ever found out, he would imdiately suspect a direct connection between Black Cocoon and Ji Minghuan—and then unleash the Salvation Society to drag Black Cocoon into the Research Facility for dissection.
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