Chapter 471: Chapter 285: Time to Fight, the Awakened Ghost Bell
"What is... going on here?"
Xia Pingzhou slightly raised an eyebrow, placing his right hand on the coffee grinder, while his peripheral vision glanced to the right.
Through the cramped kitchen door, he saw a school uniformed girl had just entered the café. Suddenly, she turned to face Ryukawa Chiba, raised her hand, and brought the blade down. A streak of dark red flashed as the tip of the Demon Blade aimed for Ryukawa Chiba’s chest.
Objectively speaking, Xia Pingzhou’s dynamic vision wasn’t particularly sharp. After all, Miss Ripper was of Catastrophe Level. He could barely catch the afterimage of the blade.
With a rough glance, Xia Pingzhou understood Miss Ripper’s intent. He retracted his gaze, took out a few pieces of toast, placed them in the kitchen’s toaster, and calmly closed the lid.
He pressed a button, and the toaster started. Through the glass, the interior lit up warmly, and the toast began to spin like a record on a record player.
Meanwhile, inside the café, Ryukawa Chiba surprisingly didn’t resist, nor did he show signs of panic. The man simply looked at Yanmo Lin with interest through his glasses.
"Alright."
Yanmo Lin lowered her eyes, and as she spoke, she used the tip of her blade to lift Ryukawa Chiba’s heart, letting it fall into her palm. She then closed her fingers, and as if by magic, the pounding heart suddenly disappeared.
"Shouldn’t I be considered an old member? Why do I still have to hand over a heart to join?" Ryukawa Chiba raised his hand to touch his chest.
He could still hear his heartbeat, the blood flow within his chest seemed normal, but it felt like something was missing.
"I don’t know you well," Yanmo Lin said, "so I have to treat you like a new member. Besides, no one knows what you’ve been through in prison these past few years, whether one or two Psychic Ability superpower users might have manipulated you into returning to us as a mole."
She paused, speaking with reason, "No one can guarantee these things haven’t happened, so I did what I did."
"Is that so?" Ryukawa Chiba adjusted his glasses, "Did the leader also support you in doing this?"
"He didn’t say anything, so that means he tacitly agreed," Yanmo Lin replied without expression, "That’s just the kind of person the leader is."
"I see." Ryukawa Chiba smiled, "But if we’re talking about moles, that guy over there seems more like one." With that, he glanced slightly, directing his gaze towards Xia Pingzhou.
"It’s fine," Yanmo Lin said offhandedly, sheathing her blade, "If he’s a mole, then just cutting him down is the end of it."
"The group is indeed improving, with so many interesting newcomers," Ryukawa Chiba sat on the sofa, curling his lips, "In comparison, the previous generation’s veterans seem quite mediocre... Both of you are very special."
"What do you mean?"
Ryukawa Chiba looked at Yanmo Lin, gray emotion bubbles floated from her, "I can see others’ emotions. One falls within the category of emotional detachment, numb, cold, even cruel, yet there’s a unique beauty to it. But the other person... is hard for me to describe."
As he spoke, he turned his head, carefully observing Xia Pingzhou’s profile, yet still couldn’t see any emotion bubbles.
Ryukawa Chiba’s face showed an intrigued expression. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation, as if watching a fake person sway before him.
To him, this was like stumbling onto the set of a horror movie. Despite having awakened his superpower decades ago, this was the first time for Ryukawa to encounter something like this.
A person without emotions, is it truly possible? he wondered.
"What do you mean by hard to describe?" Yanmo Lin sat opposite him.
"Who knows?" Ryukawa Chiba smiled faintly, withdrawing his gaze, "It’s just interesting. The last person I found this interesting was the leader. After all, special people attract each other, right?"
He clasped his hands together, looking up at Yanmo Lin, "Why don’t we talk about you, your emotions are quite unique, different in color from others."
"After cutting people enough, naturally there aren’t many emotions left. Is that so strange?" Yanmo Lin was indifferent.
"Not strange," Ryukawa Chiba said quietly, "but I’m more inclined to think your Celestial Driver affects your emotions, as your Demon Blade also contains strong emotions, don’t you think so?"
He paused for a moment, "Ever since awakening the Celestial Driver, a peculiar impulse and desire have emerged inside, that voice lures you like the devil in ’Faust’, urging you to dismember others piece by piece."
"You said it wrong."
"What did I say wrong?"
"More like you don’t quite understand Exorcists. First, you should know, every Celestial Driver is born according to the Exorcist’s will." Yanmo Lin looked down at her scabbard, "That means, because I want to dismember others piece by piece, a Celestial Driver like this was born according to my wishes, understand?"
Ryukawa Chiba remained silent for a moment, curiously observing Yanmo Lin.
"Miss Ripper, what about your family environment?" Ryukawa Chiba picked up the cup, taking a sip of plain water.
Yanmo Lin lifted her gaze from the scabbard, coolly asking:
"What can you do even if you know?"
"Just a guess, for example, in an extremely oppressive family environment, an abusive father, a hanging mother, the father crying and saying: ’I didn’t mean it that way, your mother was too fragile so she killed herself, let’s all die together so there won’t be any pain.’ Ryukawa Chiba smiled, "And then the girl, in order to protect herself, awakened her Celestial Driver while being strangled by her father. It’s an instrument containing malice and murderous desire; it backfired on the girl, and when she came to, her father was already sliced into pieces hanging beneath the ceiling."
He paused: "From that day, all that was left for you was a gray world. That’s why your emotions are gray."
As his words fell, an almost palpable killing intent erupted, spreading like glue throughout the café, seeping into everyone’s mouth and nose, making even breathing difficult.
Xia Pingzhou slowly glanced sideways, sipping milk while gazing at the scene outside the door.
Without raising her head, Yanmo Lin silently and smoothly drew her Demon Blade, pressing it against the neck of Ryukawa Chiba.
"How do you know about this?" She slowly lifted her head, asking expressionlessly.
"Hidden within your emotions are some fleeting thoughts, some indistinct memories, they told me." Ryukawa Chiba said, "Don’t be nervous, Miss Yanmo, this is something unavoidable for me. Even if I don’t want to do it, I find myself unconsciously touching the deepest scars and memories of others. Because of this, to keep my mind a bit quieter, I often perform emotional removal surgeries on the people around me."
After speaking, he licked the corner of his lip and placed down the water cup.
"Why not just die, wouldn’t that solve everything?" Yanmo Lin said deliberately.
"I think so too, once I considered the final solution. But fortunately, there are still so many interesting people in this world waiting for me to discover, their emotions are the most mysterious treasures in my eyes, as dazzling and dangerous as gems guarded by a swarm of snakes."
"For example?"
"For example, the captain, or the young guy in the kitchen, and you."
"I’m beginning to think rescuing you from that prison was a mistake."
"The world seems too noisy for me sometimes, like children and dogs. But when it’s quiet for too long, people crave a bit of clamor; Chinese people emphasize compromise, I think I have a bit of that trait too. You arrived at the perfect time when I was getting annoyed with that prison and brought me out, which is truly something to be grateful for." Ryukawa Chiba said slowly.
"Just short of people, I think you’ll die soon. Then we can look for the next new member."
Ryukawa Chiba smiled indifferently, casually asking, "By the way, what about that little girl named Lan Duoduo?"
"Dead..." Yanmo Lin said calmly, "Lately, quite a few members have died, but new ones come quickly too."
"What a pity," Ryukawa Chiba said, "When I was imprisoned, she was quite young, seemed to have just joined the group, didn’t expect her to die so soon, a fresh young life extinguished, much like seeing a small flower accidentally trampled to death."
"We are all just robbers, nothing more; we trample on others because we are stronger, but when encountering someone stronger, being stepped on is nothing to complain about." Yanmo Lin said, "Anyone who kills should consider being killed by someone stronger; if you don’t want to be slaughtered, become stronger, it’s just that simple."
"Survival of the fittest, primitive yet with a certain awareness." Ryukawa Chiba said, "Humanity has experienced so many eras, laid down so many laws, but the appearance of superpower users makes civilization seem like a joke."
Xia Pingzhou walked out, putting two hot cups of coffee on the table, then looked up at the two.
"Fighting among team members is forbidden." After speaking, he carried the platter upstairs, placed breakfast on the loft’s table, and then came downstairs, pulling a chair to sit beside Ryukawa and Yanmo.
Ryukawa Chiba picked up the coffee cup, sipped from the edge; while Yanmo Lin embraced the blade scabbard, gazing downward at her phone.
"Oh, there’s some news to relay to you." She said.
"What news?" Xia Pingzhou asked.
"The captain plans to make a move against Lake Hunting." Yanmo Lin lifted her head, "We will go to China then, to ally with Bai Tanlang and China’s strongest demon, the ’Year Beast Monarch,’ to take down the four of Lake Hunting together."
Xia Pingzhou was slightly taken aback.
He thought, is the captain officially going to war with Lake Hunting? This is really tricky, how should I handle it, I wanted to draw Lake Hunting’s people to the Salvation Society base as my backup too.
If the group and Lake Hunting had a fight, both sides would definitely suffer losses; moreover, the forces of the Year Beast army are not weak, Bai Tanlang said the Seven Deadly Sins from Northern Europe also came to China as support, at least a group of Catastrophe Levels.
"Allying with demons? Sounds like a bad decision, especially since the enemies are the world’s four strongest exorcists." Ryukawa Chiba smiled, "But since there’s Bai Tanlang, maybe it’ll have a good outcome."
Xia Pingzhou was silent for a while, then looked up at Yanmo Lin, asking:
"When is the time? When does the war start?"
"In half a month." Yanmo Lin replied.
....
....
Simultaneously, in the basement of China Li Jing.
Lin Yilong walked through a dark passage, surroundings excessively quiet.
After a short walk, he silently pushed open a door, stepping into the basement.
Looking up, he saw a man in shorts, partly wrapped in bandages, hunched over, sitting on the surgical bed, panting heavily.
On the operating table, cold light spilled down, casting on the man’s sullen face, illuminating the fine sweat beads on his forehead, and his eyes tinged with a hint of crimson.
The man’s eyes twitched. A golden clock was imprinted on his right eye, the clock displayed twelve blood-red numbers, and the second hand was continuously moving.
Moments later, Gu Zhuo Case slowly raised his head, glaring at Lin Yilong like an enraged beast, almost word by word asking:
"Tell me... where did my son go?"