Late at night, at the entrance of Roppongi EX Theater.
Ji Minghuan and Ke Qirui stared at each other, maintaining a small distance. The Queen’s Statue quietly guarded the forr’s side, and cold flas burned within its slender eye sockets.
"Ke Qirui," Ji Minghuan said emotionlessly, staring directly into Ke Qirui’s eyes, "I rember your na."
"Oh? I thought you’d forgotten already. So... do you have ti to chat with ? Right here will do, since you’ve dealt with the surveillance caras anyway."
Ke Qirui said as she took another drag of her cigarette, smoke swirling around her fingertips.
"If I say I’m busy, will you let go?"
"Indeed... should that ti co, I might find a way to ’make’ you free." Ke Qirui returned her pipe to her pocket, not denying his claim, "But I’m quite polite, so I thought I’d ask first."
Ji Minghuan remained silent, with no expression on his face. Maintaining Xia Pingzhou’s cold deanor was a bit exhausting for him; if his role was as Black Cocoon, he might have already retorted Ke Qirui’s words.
The Queen’s Statue moved forward, twirling twin daggers, and blue flas burned fiercely within its eye sockets.
"My companions are nearby." Ke Qirui removed a monocle and gently wiped it with a glasses cloth from her pocket, "You’re indeed a highly talented Exorcist. I watched that battle earlier, and even after a year of neglect, your power still exceeded my expectations. But I don’t believe you can fight multiple opponents alone."
She paused: "And... from a personal standpoint, I don’t want to clash with you either."
Upon hearing this, Ji Minghuan thought of Su Zimai’s face and quietly surrendered.
He wasn’t familiar with others, but he knew his little sister’s personality well enough, didn’t he?
Who is Su Zimai? Ever since she was a child, whenever she argued with her two brothers, she would directly ride on their backs. This kid has no restraint, and in a rush, she doesn’t consider anything.
If a chase ensues later, and Su Zimai suddenly pulls a deadly move and kills his second character, it wouldn’t be surprising.
He asked, "So... you followed all the way here late at night?"
Ke Qirui shook her head: "No, we didn’t track you, nor did we intentionally look for you. It’s just pure fate between us."
"How fateful, you ask..." she chuckled lightly, "Every ti I detect demons in the Harbor District and want to bring my people to take a look, I end up running into you."
"Perhaps it’s best to just forget this kind of fate."
"We t once two years ago, and since you still rember my na, you should also rember the scene from back then."
"So, what are you trying to express?"
Ji Minghuan looked down at the crow tattoo on his hand, wondering if the brigade leader’s ability to control crows made the tattoo serve as surveillance... If it did, he must be very careful with his words.
Every word from now on might concern life and death.
Ke Qirui was silent for a mont and slowly pulled a dossier from her trench coat pocket, "I spent so ti today investigating what happened six months ago, and I deeply regret that incident..."
She thought for a mont: "Currently, only I in the entire Association know what you’re doing. Others believe you’ve disappeared. For your safety, I took the liberty to delete your file using special permissions. This way, no one can investigate your background, even... those people."
The "those people" Ke Qirui referred to was naturally the brigade, and she knew if the White Crow Travel Brigade hacked into the Exorcist Association’s system and investigated Xia Pingzhou’s background, his fate would be sealed.
Attached to the dossier were so photos, showing a rooftop with blood-soaked organs and flesh hanging on a clothesline, even a human face completely peeled off and quietly hanging beside these organs.
Ji Minghuan internally rolled his eyes, thinking are we playing so role-playing ga now, with as Blue Arc and you as Black Cocoon beneath the street lamp... The tables have indeed turned.
"You’ve got the wrong person."
He said as he moved towards the exit.
"Stop this... It’s very dangerous." Ke Qirui averted her gaze, "But that being said, my gut tells ... you won’t compromise."
"You’ve already convinced yourself that I’m soone else, so what can I say?"
Ignoring his words, Ke Qirui said expressionlessly: "You can still leave them now. Though the brigade will see you as a traitor and will try everything to hunt you down, the Exorcist Association can ensure your safety... Returning to our side is better than staying with that group of madn. With them, you might not even survive for a month."
"I told you, you’ve got the wrong person." Ji Minghuan replied, thinking am I supposed to abandon my main quest just like that?
"True... I guessed you would say that." Ke Qirui said, "We could exchange contact information, so if you suddenly have a change of heart one day, you can reach out to ."
"I refuse." Ji Minghuan said with no expression, "I advise you not to stop ... Do you know for certain other team mbers aren’t nearby, or do you think your people have a chance against us?"
With that, he silently passed by Ke Qirui, entering the internal passageway.
He hoped Ke Qirui understood that their conversation could very well be overheard by brigade mbers, and it wouldn’t be surprising for such monsters to possess strange abilities. Continuing the conversation with Ke Qirui posed a significant risk to him.
Luckily, Ke Qirui never explicitly ntioned things, like Xia Pingzhou joining the brigade for revenge, otherwise Ji Minghuan might have to fight her to prove himself.
The whole Roppongi Theater was so quiet that only footsteps could be heard, but even those footsteps were fading away.
Ke Qirui didn’t stop him: "I sympathize with your experiences, but there’s no need to do this. The dead cannot be resurrected, and going so far as to risk your own life for them is foolish. Surely those ’dead people’ wouldn’t want to see this happen."
After a mont, Ji Minghuan’s voice ca from the exit behind.
"How do you know I’m necessarily astray as you think, rather than willingly following them?" he said, "Based solely on a eting two years ago, you’re convinced I’m a good person?"
He paused: "Perhaps I really enjoy being among them. You haven’t seen Jack the Ripper’s thods firsthand. As those faces and organs hang in the sun, swaying in the wind, I find them beautiful... Beautiful enough to make one curious about how charming the person who did this must be."
Ji Minghuan knew Jack the Ripper had likely forgotten about the incident in that alley six months ago where he killed a family. For Jack the Ripper, it was rely a post-dinner amusent and not worth rembering.
As long as it wasn’t explicitly stated that the slain were Xia Pingzhou’s family, even if brigade mbers used so ability to eavesdrop on Xia Pingzhou, his words wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
Upon hearing this, Ke Qirui was silent for a while, lowering her hat’s brim, her face hidden in shadow.
Over the years she had seen many madn, so instead of feeling anger or shock at his words, she felt regret...
If Xia Pingzhou was indeed this pathological, she would certainly act against him here, reducing the White Crow Travel Brigade by one before the auction began.
But at that mont, the Queen’s Statue suddenly moved slowly before her, raising a finger that burst into blue flas.
The Empress silently motioned with her finger, and flas ford a line of text in the air: "I won’t collaborate with you, but soone else might."
Ke Qirui silently watched the line of text, stunned for a second, and softly asked:
"Who?"
The Queen’s Statue continued to trace in mid-air, flas converging into new words:
"A black mummy."
In the next mont, the fla-ford words faded away in the air like embers, and the Empress’s form suddenly beca transparent, striding towards the theater wall. Her body rged into the wall, slowly disappearing.
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