Chapter 15

"Is it the body of an ability user?"

"That's right." Kamiki Yūhaku opened the suitcase in his hand, revealing a pale corpse. "Male, thirty-eight years old. His ability was to control the temperature within its range. He died from freezing at the lowest temperature his ability could reach. He's been dead less than twenty-four hours. Very fresh."

The person in protective gear looked at him. "Where's the man who delivered the body yesterday?"

"Dead." Kamiki Yūhaku pushed the suitcase away and casually sat on the table beside him, a smile in his red eyes. "He got the job on his own merits. When someone suddenly gets more money than usual, it's only natural for people to take notice. He was unlucky. He didn't hold out when he was being interrogated."

The person in protective gear looked at Kamiki Yūhaku. "Were you the one who interrogated him?"

"Men die for money, just as birds die for food." Kamiki Yūhaku reached up to touch the crow on his shoulder. "I went to a lot of trouble to get this ability user's body. You'd better give me a fair price."

The person in protective gear frowned at the crow on his shoulder. "Get lost and take that collection of germs with you. I'll transfer the money to your account."

"Are you discriminating against crows?"

"I discriminate against germs."

Kamiki Yūhaku stared at him. A moment later, his lips curved slightly, his red eyes full of amusement. "The way you talk reminds me of someone."

"Huh?"

The person in protective gear looked up, only to be met with a fist to his thick protective goggles and a sweeping kick.

He was slammed hard to the ground, and a hand forced his head down, smashing it against the floor. Kamiki Yūhaku stepped on his chest and tore the protective mask from his face.

"Cough, cough! What are you doing? Do you know who you're hitting?!"

"Oh? Are you going to punish me?" Kamiki Yūhaku asked lightly, his tone innocent and gentle. "Mr. Fujita."

Fujita's eyes widened at the sound of his name. His vision blurred by the sudden attack, he blinked hard and finally saw the young man standing over him, one foot on his body: that white hair and those smiling red eyes.

At that moment, a figure slowly overlapped with the person looking down at him.

"Prototype Otsu No. 0!"

"Shh." Kamiki Yūhaku smiled and pressed down harder. He crouched to look at Fujita, whose face had turned red from suffocation. "It's such a touching reunion. How about a smile?"

Fujita was a researcher, an extremist, and a virologist. He was devoted to creating a human whose body contained no germs. Kamiki Yūhaku had once been unlucky enough to become his test subject, used to determine whether a defensive ability could resist diseases and viruses.

Kamiki Yūhaku had never forgotten him.

Chapter 15

"Who went to receive the body today?" A middle-aged man in a white coat asked the researchers behind him.

"Dr. Fujita."

A researcher holding a notebook behind him said, "Dr. Kitada, Dr. Fujita said when he went to collect it that this time it's an ability user's body!"

The middle-aged man addressed as doctor pushed up his glasses. "Is that so? Then you'll have to work hard. Ability users' bodies aren't easy to come by. The last one can't be used anymore, so this time we must find the differences between the bodies of ability users and ordinary people."

"Yes!" the researchers answered in unison.

They began talking quietly among themselves, a glimmer in each of their eyes.

Not many young people had been assigned here. Most were secret talents trained by the government, with both sufficient scientific research skills and sufficient loyalty to the government. When they left school, their names were removed from the records, and they were sent here to study things that were simply not permitted in the real world under Kitada Hiro.

In their minds, they were conducting this research for the benefit of humanity.

Ding-dong.

The special doorbell rang, and Kitada Hiro looked at the monitor. Outside, Fujita stood with his head lowered, a suitcase beside him. Kitada Hiro immediately recognized it as the suitcase they usually used to transport bodies and hurriedly switched on the intercom.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and come in," Kitada Hiro said. "That's an ability user's body inside, right?"

Fujita nodded. A moment later, he reached out and pressed his finger against the fingerprint scanner. A tone sounded, indicating successful identification.

A researcher nearby spoke up, puzzled. "Why isn't Dr. Fujita saying anything?"

"He's probably too excited." Another researcher stared expectantly at the suitcase beside Fujita. "That's an ability user's body. Dr. Fujita has always wanted to study a real ability user. Unlike normal people, ability users are much stranger than ordinary people. Maybe an ability user with no germs really does exist."

"True."

Kitada Hiro's eyes were also fixed on the suitcase beside Fujita, but Fujita still wasn't coming in.

"What's going on, Fujita?"

Fujita kept his head lowered. Kitada Hiro watched him raise his hand and try the fingerprint code again and again. The successful identification tone kept sounding, but the door never opened.

"The door won't open?"

Kitada Hiro immediately realized why. He hurriedly opened the control system on his computer. The system showed that both fingerprint and pupil identification had succeeded, but a problem had occurred when the command to open the door was transmitted. It indicated that there was a foreign object in the corridor.

"A foreign object?" Kitada Hiro turned the surveillance camera to look around. He found nothing nearby, and his gaze finally settled on the suitcase beside Fujita.

Could the body in the suitcase have been identified as a foreign object?

"Dr. Kitada, why isn't Dr. Fujita coming in?"

"There's a problem with the door system. Don't worry, I'll let him in now." Kitada Hiro manually opened the door before him.

As he did so, the system brought up a confirmation box asking whether to open it. Kitada Hiro impatiently clicked confirm.

He was eager to see the ability user's body, hoping to dissect it while it was at its freshest and find what made ability users different from ordinary people. As long as he found that, he might be able to uncover the secret of ability users and give every ordinary person an ability.

Experiments that involved searching for anomalous things and infusing them into ordinary people's bodies were outdated. In the experiments in the French Concession back then, only two out of a hundred test subjects had survived.

The success rate was far too low, and the cost of cultivating them was too high. They had long since changed the direction of their research.

Click. The laboratory door opened. Without so much as a glance at Fujita, Kitada Hiro headed straight for the suitcase in front of him.

Once the suitcase was open, the fresh, pale corpse appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Good!" Kitada Hiro cried excitedly. "Dead less than twenty-four hours! A body like this is worth dissecting! Fujita, what was his ability?"

Fujita didn't answer.

"Fujita?" Kitada Hiro frowned and looked up at Fujita, who was still standing where he had been. "What's wrong with you? I asked you a question."

But the next moment, Kitada Hiro's eyes suddenly widened. The protective mask fell from Fujita's face. Beneath it, his eyes bulged and his mouth hung slightly open. He was convulsing, bright red blood spilling from the corners of his mouth with every spasm. With a thud, Fujita fell onto his back, and blood spread in an instant.

At the same time, an unfamiliar young man's voice rang out.

The voice was full of sunshine and laughter, like a kindergarten child saying something innocent.

"Male, thirty-eight years old. His ability was to control the temperature within its range. He died from the cold." The young man in a black coat and hood snapped his fingers.

Kamiki Yūhaku raised his head. A profound darkness lay in his red eyes, and the hint of a smile was like a devil cruelly devouring a lamb. Kitada Hiro's eyes widened, and the moment he saw Kamiki Yūhaku, his face turned deathly pale.

"Thank you for letting me in yourselves," Kamiki Yūhaku said.

"Activate the defenses!" Kitada Hiro shouted at the same time.

A dagger shot from Kamiki Yūhaku's hand. The young researchers closest to the console fell with screams, their wrists pierced by the dagger. Accustomed to doing nothing but experiments in the closed research institute and never exercising, they fell apart the instant they were injured.

The others stared at Kamiki Yūhaku in terror. They scrambled toward the exit, but in their panic, they couldn't even get the door open.

"Useless!"

Kitada Hiro lunged for the console. Just as his hand was about to reach it, he abruptly froze. A dagger brushed past his neck, its sharp blade leaving a line of blood as he tipped his head back.

If he hadn't stopped in time, his head would probably have come off in an instant.

At the thought, Kitada Hiro's face turned ashen.

"...Prototype Otsu No. 0."

"Surprise." Kamiki Yūhaku smiled as he stepped out of the shadows. The pale light of an incandescent lamp fell across his face, making his white hair seem almost transparent. The crow perched on his shoulder, preening its feathers. He watched Kitada Hiro, a smile in his red eyes. "It's been ten years, Mr. Kitada. You've been doing well."

Kitada Hiro tried to retreat, but Kamiki Yūhaku's dagger pressed toward him again.

Gritting his teeth in secret, Kitada Hiro was annoyed by the situation.

They were researchers, while Kamiki Yūhaku was a professional intelligence agent. His infiltration, tracking, and assassination skills as an agent were completely maxed out. In a direct confrontation, they had no way of subduing him.

"Let them go." Kitada Hiro stared at Kamiki Yūhaku. "They don't know anything. They were just sent here to learn. This has nothing to do with them."

"Oh? Are you protecting them?" Kamiki Yūhaku tilted his head. His red eyes were unfocused, yet Kitada Hiro could feel them on him. "How surprising. To think Mr. Kitada would want to protect someone else."

Kitada Hiro frowned deeply. "I should be the only one you hate. I was the lead researcher on your experiments."

Smiling, Kamiki Yūhaku turned to look at the young researchers. They had been stunned by the sudden turn of events. Aside from those howling with daggers lodged in their wrists, not one of them had thought to save Kitada Hiro. But their eyes kept drifting toward the console on the other side of the room.