As Gu Zhuo’an walked back into the bar, a soft female voice stopped him:
“What’s wrong with you?”
Turning slightly, he saw Amiya Chihiro in a red dress leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Her gaze was low, and she didn’t even look at him as she continued:
“Don’t tell
it’s the sa old problem again… is your Esper ability going out of control?”
“There’s a bug in your guest list.”
“A bug?”
Amiya Chihiro blinked in surprise and turned to look at Gu Zhuo’an.
This underground bar had been founded by the underworld family backing her. Every guest was handpicked and had to be soone with real standing in the underworld. On top of that, they were all required to sign strict confidentiality agreents.
In a place like this, how could a bug sneak in?
Who had the guts to try that?
“Help
investigate that guy in the floral shirt from earlier. Contact
once you’ve got sothing.”
With a hoarse and cold voice, he threw out the line and walked straight toward the bar’s exit without looking back, leaving the proprietress puzzled.
Gu Zhuo’an didn’t spare her a single glance from beginning to end.
“He… cries too?”
Amiya Chihiro whispered softly to herself, still hugging her shoulders, and looked again at Gu Zhuo’an’s retreating back.
He stumbled away, his figure like a mad dog that had its spine ripped out.
As soon as he stepped out of the bar, morning light spilled down from above. Gu Zhuo’an raised his arm to shield his eyes, squinting—his bloodshot pupils trembling.
A mont later, he slowly lifted his head—and suddenly saw a figure hanging in the alleyway.
Soone had been suspended midair by black straps, their body wrapped in layers of black binding restraints, forming a huge ball that floated in place.
Through the gaps in the restraints, he saw a man unconscious inside.
The man’s face, and the floral shirt he wore—it was exactly the sa as the guy who had handed him the voice recorder. The man’s sunglasses slowly slipped off his face and fell through the gap in the restraints with a crisp clink.
“Black Cocoon…”
Gu Zhuo’an muttered the na with a grim face, a flash of rage glinting at the corner of his eye. He walked past the man in the floral shirt and disappeared into the sunlight at the end of the alley.
...
...
Ten minutes earlier, after the Binding Restraint Clone handed the voice recorder to Gu Zhuo’an, it had left the bar.
Returning to the alley, it quickly scaled the apartnt building to the rooftop, found the unconscious big brother, and returned the floral shirt, suit pants, and sunglasses—strictly following the principle of “borrow and return,” the model of a good, honest citizen.
Then Ji Minghuan had the Binding Restraint Clone extend its right arm over the railing and peel off a strip of “Binding Restraint Trap” onto the top of a nearby billboard that featured actress Aragaki Yui endorsing costics.
In an instant, the black restraints wrapped around a corner of the billboard like a swarm of snakes, completely covering Aragaki Yui’s beautiful face—but quickly beca transparent again, making the billboard look just as it had before.
【Active Skill Released—“Binding Restraint Trap.” Cooldown Ti: One day (generates one trap per day, max storage: 2 traps)】
【Available Binding Restraint Traps: 0】
Next, Ji Minghuan had the clone throw the now fully dressed man in the floral shirt into the trap.
The mont it triggered, the restraints burst out and swallowed the man instantly. He swung in the air like a pendulum for a few seconds before settling down, floating in place in the alley.
“This way, when Dad cos out, he won’t waste ti digging into the underworld. He’ll co straight for … There’s no way he’d actually think I’m so underworld figure, right?”
Thinking this, Ji Minghuan smiled in satisfaction as the clone on the rooftop dissolved into hot vapor and dispersed.
The real Black Cocoon had already returned to the hotel and was lying on the bed doing nothing. Tomorrow night, Ji Minghuan would et Gu Zhuo’an in person on top of the building near Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo Bay. He figured that after being threatened like that, Gu Zhuo’an would have no choice but to show up.
So for now, the only one still busy… was Unit Two.
At this mont, on the other side of Tokyo, Ji Minghuan was operating Unit Two—Xia Pingzhou—as he arrived at the eting place Origami Ayase had ntioned.
He looked up at the abandoned amusent park ahead and stepped over the “No Entry” sign.
The giant stuffed animal at the gate was torn and unrecognizable—even a hundred stitches wouldn’t restore it. Most of the rides were so old they looked like they’d collapse at a touch—the pirate ship’s wooden body was full of holes, and wood shavings piled on the ground like snow. The black sail had been worn down to a faded white scrap.
Wandering through the amusent park, he soon found one area that still showed signs of movent.
It was the carousel—a spot where parents most often brought their children.
Only now, what appeared in Xia Pingzhou’s eyes was anything but child-appropriate: nine tall figures in suits and dress shoes were hanging from the top disk of the carousel.
Their eyes were rolled back as they spun slowly with the ride. Not a drop of blood leaked from any of them—they were disturbingly clean.
The ride was unnaturally pristine, making the whole scene even more eerie.
Seated among the nine bodies, atop a red carousel horse, was a woman with long pale-gold hair in a red dress.
Her figure was graceful and tall—about 179 centiters, even taller than Xia Pingzhou. She had a delicate, poised deanor with a faint sense of danger beneath it.
She sat sideways on the horse, the Tokyo wind stirring her golden hair like gentle waves.
Her crimson eyes turned slightly, gazing down at Xia Pingzhou from above. She curled her lips and said slowly:
“You’re the new guy they’ve been talking about?”
“Number 12, Xia Pingzhou,” Ji Minghuan replied calmly.
His eyes lingered on the bodies spinning with the carousel. Looking closely, you could see sothing was off: though they looked intact, their bodies were actually in pieces—stitched together by threads of blood, holding the fragnts in place and creating the illusion of whole corpses.
The most terrifying part?
When Ji Minghuan got closer, he realized—these weren’t corpses at all.
They were still alive.
Their breathing was audible, but they could only stay frozen in those positions, dangling in the air. Their eyes rolled grotesquely upward, their faces twisted, foam dribbling from their mouths, visibly suffering.
Creak—
The carousel’s top disk suddenly stopped, and the horses ceased spinning.
The nine suited n swayed slightly and fell still.
Then the woman in the red dress on the red horse spoke:
“I’m number 9 in the brigade. I don’t have a na. Most people call
‘Bloodline.’ So call
‘Vampire.’ You don’t have a codena?”
Ji Minghuan shook his head. “I don’t have one for now.”
Bloodline gave a faint smile. “I see. If we have nas, we use them. If not, we use codenas. And if even that’s not an option, we go by our numbers. But usually, only mbers who don’t get along use numbers with each other.”
“I see…” Ji Minghuan replied blankly. “What’s with these people?”
Bloodline said casually, “They’re Espers hired as bodyguards by the Amiya family. Judging by how they felt, each one’s about Kui-level. I ran into them on the way and thought they looked fun, so I killed them.”
Ji Minghuan examined them for a mont, then looked away. Slowly, he said:
“Your ability must be blood control. You split their bodies into pieces, then used blood as thread to stitch them together, keeping their blood flowing as normal. That way, even though they’re in pieces, they don’t die right away.”
“Oh? You figured that out?”
Bloodline raised an eyebrow and stared straight at Ji Minghuan, a curious smile tugging at her lips.
Ji Minghuan asked again, “So… you could just drain soone’s blood dry?”
“No,” Bloodline replied frankly. “I can only control soone’s blood once mine cos into contact with theirs.” She paused, cupping her cheeks in her hands. “Sounds like you’re scared I’ll suck you dry?”
Ji Minghuan t her aggressive gaze.
Then, suddenly polite, he asked, “Number 9, would you mind giving
your toys?”
He nodded toward the nine n dangling from the carousel’s top disk.
Bloodline blinked. “Why?” she asked curiously.
Ji Minghuan answered flatly, “My Tianqu Power is special—it grows stronger by killing Extraordinary Species.”
He didn’t even blink as he lied, staring straight into her crimson eyes.
In truth, if these nine really were Kui-level Espers, killing them would absolutely count toward the developnt of Unit Two’s growth system—Winter of the Hunt.
No reason to waste those heads.
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