Special training within the squad

After Lin Qiye chose to join the Nightwatchers, he was still an auxiliary member, but the rest of the 136th Squad already regarded him as one of their own.

Lin Qiye couldn't go home, so Hongying had him move straight into her house. Her place was pretty big anyway, and he could go straight to sleep when he was tired from training. It was no trouble.

The others, meanwhile, tried to teach Lin Qiye everything they knew about their respective specialties before he attended the intensive training.

Today, Chen Muye, captain of the 136th Squad, sat cross-legged in the training ground, waiting to give Lin Qiye his first lesson since joining the Nightwatchers.

The Cangnan City Nightwatchers' headquarters lay beneath an agency. The underground complex stretched for hundreds of meters in every direction, even extending beneath the canal.

After greeting Hongying and the others upstairs, who were helping a grandmother in her sixties sort out an emotional dispute, Lin Qiye went down to the underground training ground alone.

"Qiye, we can't waste this precious time before the official intensive training begins. You'll have training assignments every day. I don't want to see you embarrass our 136th Squad during the intensive training." Chen Muye stood up and spoke to Lin Qiye as he came through the door.

"You'll practice the blade with me in the morning, learn to use your Forbidden Ruin with Wen Qimo in the afternoon, and learn to shoot with Leng Xuan in the evening."

"You don't have a blade of your own right now, so you can use Old Zhao's for the time being. His injuries are serious. You went to see him a couple of days ago, and he'll be bedridden for at least a few months." As Chen Muye spoke, he picked up a steel blade from behind him that looked very familiar to Lin Qiye and tossed it to him.

Lin Qiye had gone to check on Zhao Kongcheng, but who would have thought that the moment he entered the room, Zhao Kongcheng had insisted on driving him out and refused to see him no matter what he said?

Of course Lin Qiye knew that the forty-year-old tsundere was too ashamed to face him, which was why he was putting on that coy, affected act.

Uncle, tsunderes are out of fashion!

Still, knowing that Zhao Kongcheng's life was no longer in danger put Lin Qiye at ease. Even so, the thought left him shaken. Without Zhou Meng, without the god in his mind, he really didn't know what the situation would be now.

So, to protect the people he cared about, he had to grow stronger! He had to surpass these monsters, surpass the captain, and perhaps one day even surpass the god in his mind!

Lin Qiye caught the blade Chen Muye had tossed him and gave it a few casual swings.

It felt good in his hand, neither too light nor too heavy. Just right.

"Raise your blade. We're starting your training now." Chen Muye picked up two bamboo swords from the weapons rack beside him.

Lin Qiye was a little taken aback.

"Captain, this is a real blade!"

"Real or fake, it makes no difference to me. Know your place, Qiye. Come on, raise your blade!"

Expressionless, Chen Muye walked toward Lin Qiye with a bamboo sword in each hand.

"All right! Captain, here I come!"

Lin Qiye weighed the blade in his hand, then charged.

Meanwhile, in the activity area of Gods' Psychiatric Hospital.

"My husband, when do you think Thanatos will come back?" Nyx asked in an ethereal voice. She was sitting on a swing, holding a medicine bottle.

"Sigh, how long has Qiye even been gone? Even by the time here, it's only been an hour or so, hasn't it? You're a god, at least. Can't you be a little patient?" Zhou Meng replied helplessly.

He had been sitting in his ward, bored out of his mind and planning to find Merlin to chat about philosophy and have a little fun. Instead, Nyx had dragged him to the activity area to keep her company while she swung.

Although she no longer cradled a bottle as if it were her child, she had, surprisingly, not forgotten the notion that Zhou Meng was her husband, Erebus.

To keep Nyx's condition stable, Zhou Meng had no choice but to come to the courtyard with her and watch her on the swing.

Just then, Zhou Meng suddenly sensed something. There seemed to be a disturbance in the psychiatric hospital. Has that kid Lin Qiye gotten into another fight? He should be taking part in the squad's special training at the Cangnan City Nightwatchers' branch right now. Let me see how the fight's going!

He closed his eyes and focused his consciousness. In an instant, Lin Qiye's screams rang in his ears.

"Ah!!!!"

Zhou Meng almost instinctively withdrew his consciousness back into the psychiatric hospital.

Wait, what's going on? He has two blue traits and could even beat the Ghost-Faced King, so how has Chen Muye beaten his face into a pig's head?

"Can you handle this, Qiye?" Zhou Meng began communicating with Lin Qiye through their thoughts.

"Stop making snide remarks! The captain is trying to kill me with every single move! I'm his teammate, not his enemy or a monster! Who could stand being beaten like this?" Lin Qiye had grown used to Zhou Meng's voice suddenly appearing and immediately complained to him through his thoughts.

"Did I lend you those traits for nothing? Use them!"

The day after the Ghost-Faced King was killed, Zhao Kongcheng had still been unconscious, and the Nightwatchers had questioned Lin Qiye. But to avoid exposing Zhou Meng's existence, Lin Qiye had attributed everything to Michael.

Although he knew Zhao Kongcheng might reveal Zhou Meng's existence, and the members of the 136th Squad would also learn that Zhou Meng had some connection to him, he would not admit to that secret himself.

However, Lin Qiye's impression of Chen Muye was correct.

Chen Muye really was hitting him hard, but his aim wasn't actually to kill Lin Qiye. He wanted to see just how much power Lin Qiye could unleash when driven into a desperate situation.

The power Lin Qiye had unleashed that night, enough to kill a Ghost-Faced Man, was definitely no accident. Judging from Chen Muye's own experience, it was very likely an outburst of power brought on by desperation.

As for this Zhou Meng, he might also be Lin Qiye's second personality.

Only by pushing Lin Qiye into a desperate situation might he be able to make Zhou Meng appear again.

Then he could test his theory!

"Qiye, pick up your blade! We're not done yet!" Chen Muye continued shouting at Lin Qiye.

Lin Qiye spat out the blood that had just started flowing after his nose was struck by a blade's hilt. A golden light gradually began to flicker in his eyes.

Captain, since you won't show me mercy, don't blame me for returning the favor!

"Ah!"

Lin Qiye's aura suddenly surged. Gripping the steel blade tightly in both hands, he slashed forward with all his strength. Blade force flashed out, dazzling Chen Muye so badly that he could barely keep his eyes open for a moment.

A tremendously powerful wave of blade qi cleaved straight toward Chen Muye.

His pupils suddenly dilated!

How is this possible?! There's no way someone who has just entered the Cup Realm could unleash blade qi like this. Even a god's agent couldn't do it!

If I take this strike head-on, my bamboo swords won't just break; my head might come off too!

I can't take it head-on!

Chen Muye shifted his stance slightly and dodged to the side, while using a bamboo sword to forcefully deflect the blade force.

There was a thunderous boom, and Chen Muye couldn't help turning to look.

Everything in the path of the blade light he had deflected was severed. The weapons rack that had stood nearby was smashed to pieces by the strike, and the training weapons and protective gear on it had suffered the same fate.

On the wall behind it, an enormous crack clearly showed everyone what had caused it.

Chen Muye couldn't help frowning.

Just how much more is that kid Lin Qiye hiding from us?!

Meanwhile, in the agency upstairs.

"Oh my, was that an earthquake?! My husband is still at home! I'm going back!" The grandmother, who had originally come for advice about an emotional problem, was so frightened by the sudden shaking that she hurried home to find her husband.

After seeing the grandmother out, Hongying and Wen Qimo looked at each other.

"Aren't the captain and Qiye sparring downstairs? How did they make such a huge commotion? That just now definitely came from down there, right?" Wen Qimo asked in confusion.

"Come on, let's take a look!" Hongying grabbed Wen Qimo and strode straight toward the underground area with him.