After leaving the royal palace and returning to the floating castle, Cezar stopped in the courtyard where leaves were swirling down.
He thought for a mont and then looked up, making a request to Li Qingping: "Li Qingping, although we don’t have much ti left, I still want to ask you to teach how to cultivate the Power of Strange Tales."
Li Qingping remained silent. He initially thought that not much could be accomplished in such a short ti and that it might be better to just rest and gather strength.
However, on second thought, he knew that the Third Prince had extraordinary talent, unlike ordinary people, and there was a chance that sothing revolutionary might happen within a few days. Thus, he accepted Cezar’s request, and the two comnced their one-on-one training.
A gust of wind swept across the bloody-red sky, rustling the maple leaves, as schools of floating fish drifted by in large patches. Standing among the swirling leaves, the white-haired youth held the Anecdote Atlas, focusing intently as he released one fundantal, common-level anecdote after another.
Li Qingping stood by guiding, telling Cezar: Every piece of Anecdote Fragnt has its own unique chanism. By deftly using the characteristics of a fragnt, you can extract feedback called the "Power of Strange Tales" from it.
Once enough "Power of Strange Tales" accumulates within you, you can upgrade your rank and resonate with, and bind to, more advanced strange tales.
Cezar’s imdiate goal was to advance from a D-level Anecdote Envoy to a C-level Anecdote Envoy.
In doing so, the advanced strange tales he could bind wouldn’t just be limited to "Christmas Sled," and Li Qingping would be able to provide him with so higher-level anecdotes for protection.
Yaguba squinted, thinking to himself that his own cultivation relied solely on eating, unlike these tedious efforts by a bunch of foodies—boring!
Yawning, he lay inside the crystal ball, quietly observing their cultivation. After a short mont, sleepiness overtook him, and just as his eyelids were about to drop, he shifted focus and quickly synchronized consciousness to a No.1 entity.
As everyone knows, when you are bored, torturing the Refrigerator Demon is more invigorating than drinking a hundred cups of coffee.
Even the shark nobility tacitly acknowledged this common sense, let alone the Legendary Bandage Man Black Cocoon.
.....
.....
Given that Whale Terrarium’s ti wasn’t much different from Li Jing’s, it was currently 7:30 AM in Li Jing.
No.1 entity Gu Wenyu sat up from bed, groggily scratching his ssy hair, reaching for and checking his phone by the pillow.
[Su Zimai: I bought breakfast. I’m downstairs. Co down and eat when you’re awake.]
While getting dressed, Gu Wenyu had the restraint belt help him type and send a ssage.
[Gu Wenyu: Are you really this kind-hearted? Is this really my little sister? Why does this feel like the plot where soone knows they’re going to die tomorrow and decides to leave a good impression for their family to rember?]
[Gu Wenyu: Little sis, you aren’t really going to die, are you?]
[Gu Wenyu: Just don’t die on my phone, okay? Send a 1 if you got this ssage.]
[Su Zimai: What the heck? You barely get up early to buy breakfast, and now you’re cursing ? Are you human?]
[Gu Wenyu: What were you and elder brother talking about so mysteriously last night? Why does elder brother know about the Exorcist stuff?]
Su Zimai remained silent for a long ti before sending him a ssage.
[Su Zimai: He happened to know so people from the Exorcist Association, and then I got caught.]
[Gu Wenyu: What a coincidence indeed.]
[Su Zimai: (Panda flipping the middle finger emoji) Blocking you, goodbye.]
[You have been blacklisted by "Su Zimai."]
Satisfied, Gu Wenyu put down his phone. After the restraint belt helped him get dressed, he left the room, headed to the bathroom, closed the door, and used the restraint belt to steady himself on the wet floor.
His senses infiltrated the floor tiles, entering the first-floor living room, observing the two people in the kitchen with a god-like overhead view.
Su Zimai sipped sesa soy milk through a straw and earnestly said, "By the way, brother... Since both second brother and our dad are muggles, rember to keep our matters private from them, or they’ll worry about us."
She paused, "Also, it’s best not to involve them in our affairs."
She thought: If Gu Wenyu knew elder brother was Blue Arc, he’d definitely run to elder brother and report that she’s always bad-mouthing Blue Arc behind his back, so it’s best to keep it a secret for now.
Thinking of this made her sigh deeply, wishing that Gu Wenyu also had a hidden identity. That way, she’d have sothing on him!
Gu Qiye remained silent.
Indeed, both he and Xiaomai knew Wenyu was an ordinary person, but there was sothing Su Zimai didn’t know: their father might be hiding secrets of his own.
After all, this piece of information was directly told to him by Black Cocoon when they first t. Although Black Cocoon loved to tease them, objectively speaking, until now, Black Cocoon had never lied to them, and every piece of information he provided was aningful and rarely wrong.
After a bit of deliberation, Gu Qiye decided to investigate this matter on his own. Telling Su Zimai might alert their father prematurely.
After all... with his sister’s limited skills, if their father really was soone significant, he would notice her instantly.
Thinking this, Gu Qiye said softly, "Yes, it’s better not to let Wenyu and dad know about our matters."
The siblings nodded in agreent, sharing a knowing look.
Gu Qiye pondered, "You’re leaving for London tomorrow morning, right?"
"Mm."
Gu Qiye hesitated for a mont and then asked quietly, "Do you need to go with you? I can take a day off from the Mutants Association."
"No need... brother, stay here to protect the city. I’m not alone; the rest of the Ghost Train Corps will look out for each other, not to ntion..."
"Not to ntion what?"
Su Zimai took a deep breath, "The captain said that big fluttering moth is going with us to London this ti too."
"Black Cocoon..."
Gu Qiye murmured nonchalantly, biting into a glutinous rice wrap.
Honestly, hearing that Black Cocoon would accompany his sister, he felt quite relieved, though he didn’t know why. Maybe over ti, he’d started to gradually trust this mysterious figure.
After a brief silence, he tilted his mouth upwards: "Alright then, take care, I won’t interfere with your matters."
"Hmm..." Su Zimai finished the glutinous rice chicken in her bowl, then drank up the black sesa. Suddenly, she widened her eyes as if sothing occurred to her, and she squeezed the plastic cup forcefully, letting out an exasperated, angry "Ah!"
"What’s wrong?" Gu Qiye was startled, turning his head to look at her.
Su Zimai, with a head full of black lines, slowly said, "I just recalled... previously, when I t Black Cocoon with the commander in Tokyo, he said sothing to ."
"What did he say?"
"At that ti, he told : ’Blue Arc is your brother.’" Su Zimai uttered each word distinctly, through gritted teeth.
Gu Qiye didn’t seem to mind, simply biting a bun, "So he already sold out in front of you?"
"No, at the ti I thought he was talking about my second brother, and I was spun around by him. Only upon reflection did I realize that this darn big moth was talking about you."
Su Zimai sighed, holding her forehead.
"Alright, it’s all in the past." Gu Qiye chuckled silently, "Black Cocoon is indeed annoying; I was also spun around by him initially."
"And now?"
"Uh..." Gu Qiye was stumped, montarily unsure how to reply, and eventually sighed, "It’s still the sa now; I still haven’t figured out who he really is."
It was sowhat embarrassing to admit, for soone who was a dignified Quasi-Calamity Level superpower user, to be led around by a big moth.
Yet despite the indignation, he had to admit: without Black Cocoon, many things thus far would have gone in a far worse direction.
"I knew it..."
Su Zimai murmured to herself, her expression slightly stern, "Bro, let’s dig out the truth about this damn thing together."
"Yeah, go for it, Xiaomai." Gu Qiye shrugged, "I’ll leave the task of beating Black Cocoon to you, although I also want to give him a good beating, I’ll let my sister go first."
The siblings exchanged a smile.
Never before had the siblings reached such a consensus on sothing; at that mont, it felt as though their hearts were linked. anwhile, upstairs, Gu Wenyu hugged his knees, drawing circles on the bathroom floor by himself.
He thought to himself: What has Black Cocoon done to you two? If you don’t like the diapers I sent, you can return them, darn it...
"I’ll be heading out today," Su Zimai said softly, "Brother, be careful."
Her tone was still a bit awkward and casual, as if still not quite accustod to the fact that "her own brother is Blue Arc."
"I will."
Gu Qiye paused for a mont, then lightly laughed and patted the top of her head.
He found it quite novel; it had been many years since he had fought alone while keeping secrets from his family... having soone show concern before heading out felt nice, he thought.
Gu Wenyu sighed, retracting the restraint belt, and ceased his concern for the siblings, instead, raising his eyes to the pale face in the mirror.
He thought to himself: "So... I should also discuss sothing important with the commander today, go for it, Black Cocoon colleague... Whether Cezar and Li Qingping can escape smoothly all depends on whether you can persuade the commander."
With that thought, he set down the toothbrush, spat out the mouthwash he’d just swallowed, and then wiped his face with a towel before heading out.
Today, Black Cocoon spent the day idly, apart from hanging out at the bookstore with the owner while reading and chatting, and teasing Swallowing Silver on the street, nothing morable happened from dawn to dusk.
Ti quietly shifted to nightti at Li Jing Third Middle School.
The night, like a curtain, draped over this desolate middle school. At this mont, on the rooftop of a school building, Black Cocoon was quietly sitting on the railings, sketching a bizarre and fantastical scene with a sketchpad and pencil he got from sowhere.
Soon, a crow with crimson eyes flew in, slowly landing on the railings of the rooftop, and soon after, a man in a black trench coat appeared in Black Cocoon’s line of sight. The gale descending from the city sky lifted the hems of his coat.
Urushibara Osamu hunched his back, silently sitting on the railings.
Black Cocoon glanced up at him from the sketchpad, without acknowledging him, continuing to focus on his drawing.
Seeing Black Cocoon silent, Urushibara Osamu cooperated by conjuring a card from his fingertips, turning his head to gaze at the brightly lit city with deep, dark eyes.
"So... what do you want with ?" After a while, he nonchalantly asked, fiddling with the card in his hand.
By now, Black Cocoon had stopped what he was doing; he had already finished drawing what he wanted. He casually tossed the pencil towards the city, watching as it spun and fell, finally vanishing into the night.
Then he slowly began to speak: "Firstly, it’s an honor to et you alone, Mr. Urushibara... of course, addressing you as Commander might be more appropriate."
Urushibara did not respond, seemingly unconcerned with what he was called.
"Therefore, I must state, the information I am about to provide you is very, very important," Black Cocoon paused, speaking eerily, "I believe you would be interested in it."
Saying this, he slowly flipped the sketchpad in his hand, facing it towards Urushibara.
Urushibara leisurely turned his head.
Looking up, one would see drawn on the sketchpad a massive, battleship-like ochre whale.
This whale surged across the sea, roaring upwards, stirring up countless white waves, and above this whale lay a gloomy sky.
From the distant skies, storm clouds lood heavily, and at this mont, a giant dark blue shark, colossal enough to cover the heavens, plumted from above the sky, opening a mouth like an abyss towards the whale!
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