The Protagonist Groups

After crossing the Sushui Danger Zone, An Ying finally returned to the residential district, chilled to the bone. It wasn't raining there, so he closed his umbrella, shook the rain off its canopy, and shook off the chill.

On his way back, he saw that the weapon shop next to their headquarters was still open. The owner sat in a rocking chair, holding a map and muttering something to himself. When he saw An Ying, he gave a lazy wave, smiling with relaxed ease.

"Mr. An Ying, out on another mission? How did you get so wet?" Lin Nieran asked with a smile. "Didn't the umbrella you ordered last time work well?"

An Ying nodded politely. "It worked well. I got wet by accident. I have something to do, but I'll come back and give you my business another time."

Lin Nieran waved him off and watched him leave with a smile. Only after An Ying had disappeared from sight did he turn his eyes to the system fluttering excitedly beside him.

When An Ying returned to headquarters, most of the teammates he had contacted in advance had already come back and were waiting for him in the room where they usually held meetings.

One was still out on a mission, and another held an official position of his own and couldn't get back right away.

"Knock, knock-knock."

"Click."

A black-haired young man opened the door. He had regular features and a pleasant enough appearance, but when he smiled, his eyes narrowed slightly and their outer corners curved upward in a subtle arc, giving him the air of a fox up to no good.

"An Ying, why the rush? You couldn't even deal with a little water ghost? That's not like you."

The black-haired young man tilted his head and blocked the doorway, teasing him with a grin.

An Ying brought the umbrella in his hand down on his head without mercy. "Qin Rang, this is serious."

Qin Rang tilted his head and stepped aside, a smile on his lips.

An Ying looked into the room. A brown-haired young man grinned as he greeted him without looking up from the game console in his arms. A pink-haired girl sat with a book, leisurely drinking coffee in the sunlight by the window. When he arrived, she merely shifted her eyes toward him, then quickly returned her gaze to the page.

The large screen on the wall was playing the recording Wang Ningshui had just sent back. Qin Rang had probably been watching it.

An Ying set his umbrella beside him and sat down on the vacant sofa. He took the towel Qin Rang handed him and wiped his dripping white hair. "You've all watched the video?"

Qin Rang closed the door, and the other two looked up as well, putting aside their joking manner.

The pink-haired girl rested her head on her hand and frowned delicately. "We have. Water ghosts aren't difficult weird entities to deal with, but this person and this whole matter are highly unusual."

"Sis, whenever you talk about something, it never sounds all that dangerous." The brown-haired young man grinned, looking every bit the optimist.

Qin Rang smiled at An Ying. "You were there. What was your impression?"

"He's strong, but not impossible to deal with."

The pink-haired girl sighed. "An Ying, the captain isn't asking how strong he is. What do you think his objective was? Was it just that water ghost's weird object?"

An Ying thought it over carefully, then shook his head. He had some suspicions, but without being completely certain about some things, he couldn't say for sure.

The brown-haired young man casually chimed in, "What objective could he have? We all kill weird entities. Doesn't that make us one big family? That water ghost's weird object isn't much use anyway. I don't think it's as useful as his own long saber weird object."

After a pause, he added, "I don't get it. We've watched this video two or three times already, and we haven't found anything unusual. Maybe he's just a kind person who doesn't want to reveal his identity. We all kill weird entities, so why worry about it?"

An Ying was used to the young man's overly simple way of thinking. He combed his dried hair back and said, "Have you forgotten that group that worships gods?"

"That was different, wasn't it? Those people don't kill weird entities. Besides, weird entities have been running rampant these past few years. Where would they find the time to cause trouble again? Their own headquarters got wrecked by weird entities. They should worry about protecting themselves first."

The pink-haired girl gave the brown-haired young man a meaningful look. Every time weird entities came up, he reacted strongly. Though she shouldn't have suspected a teammate of so many years, she couldn't help wondering what connection he had to the weird entities.

"It's different," Qin Rang said, narrowing his foxlike eyes. He raised a hand and paused the video on a frame from when Wang Ningshui and the others first saw the man inside the swimming pool. The recorder hadn't captured the darkness particularly clearly, but his conspicuous green eyes stood out.

Qin Rang pointed to the long saber. "His weapon doesn't look like the ones we use now. It looks more like something people used in ancient times. It seems much the same as an ordinary long saber, but as far as I know, it resembles an ancient weapon people used a long time ago: a Tang horizontal saber."

"A Tang horizontal saber? There are still young people who use that kind of weapon? How rare." The pink-haired girl rose and examined it with great interest.

Qin Rang stepped aside. "From beginning to end, he never concealed his appearance. Clearly, he exposed himself deliberately. You could also take it to mean he wasn't afraid of being exposed, but I lean toward it being deliberate."

The pink-haired girl brushed back her thick, long curls and followed Qin Rang's train of thought. "There were so many weird entities in that area. Why did he choose the water ghost in particular?"

"That rain was suspicious too. Do water ghosts have a rule that lets them summon rain? A low-level weird entity like that could have three rules at most. I'm more inclined to think the rain was a trick this person used... Could there also be a weird entity hidden in that saber he used? One with a rule superior to the water ghost's?"

An Ying shook his head. "I didn't sense a weird entity's aura from that saber. It should just be an ordinary saber, not a weird artifact."

"All right."

An Ying said, "I also think he deliberately picked the water ghost and put on a show in front of me."

The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes slightly. Beside her, the brown-haired young man's eyes suddenly shifted. "Could he also be after that thing of the boss's?"

The other three rolled their eyes at him. If they hadn't considered that possibility, why would they be bothering with all this?

"These guys... We drive one group away, and another shows up. It never ends," An Ying said quietly.

Qin Rang curved his lips into a smile. "Look on the bright side. Maybe we're just overthinking it, and he isn't as complicated as we think."

The video continued playing. The pink-haired girl, who had been staring at the Tang horizontal saber, suddenly paused, a sharp look in her eyes. "Wait. Stop at seven minutes and fifty-six seconds."

Qin Rang instinctively rewound the video to seven minutes and fifty-six seconds. On the screen was the scene of the young man chopping the water ghost into mincemeat.

He took a clump of living slime from the pile of minced flesh. The slime wriggled in his palm, and he seemed to dislike it. He tapped it with the hilt of his saber in warning.

At that very moment, a breeze lifted the stray hair by the young man's ear, revealing an inconspicuous dark red marking hidden on his right earlobe. It was very blurry in the dim light.

"What is that?"

All four leaned in at once.