Chrysalis

In the soundless Li Jing Square, everyone stared blankly at the object hanging upside down beneath the billboard—it had appeared so abruptly, like the ovaries of a Xenomorph suddenly appearing in a horror film, suspended beneath the sky.

A second ago, everyone's attention had been focused on Blue Arc and Green Wing;

The next second, they saw this foreign object descend from the sky, hanging motionlessly upside down beneath the billboard, while casually tying up all five bandits.

At that moment, enormous LED screens in every direction displayed the horrifying scene.

Under everyone's gaze, the pitch-black "chrysalis" slowly opened, revealing a humanoid figure within: dressed in a black Swallowtail Windbreaker, wearing a sharply angular mask, and holding a gray book in his hands. His entire body was wrapped in pitch-black Restraint Bands, like black waves rippling through the air as they slowly revolved around him.

Blue Arc could probably never have imagined that the person beneath the mask of this "Chrysalis Man"... was Ji Minghuan, a latecomer to the craft. More precisely, this was the Game Character Ji Minghuan had generated in the real world using his ability—Blue Arc's Younger Brother, "Gu Wenyu."

As the Giant Cocoon came apart, the Restraint Bands that had formed it drifted through the sky behind him like tentacles. The scene was especially bizarre. He seemed to be hanging upside down, lying amid a black curtain that opened and closed, quietly reading The Stranger in his hands.

At that moment, a belated scream erupted from the crowd of onlookers.

"Oh, your screams are so enthusiastic..." Chrysalis Man hung upside down beneath the billboard, one Restraint Band connected to his back while its other end hung from the top of the billboard.

As he lowered his eyes to turn the pages of The Stranger, he teased them mockingly. "I knew how much you all liked me."

"I'll say it one more time: make this person get lost, or I'll detonate the bombs on the hostages!" Green Wing roared furiously, raising a hand to point at the strange object hanging in midair.

"I told you... he isn't one of us." Blue Arc emphasized again.

"Then who is he?!" Veins bulged on Green Wing's forehead as he raised his head and bellowed at Chrysalis Man, "I don't care who you are, get the hell out of here right now, or I'll detonate the bombs immediately! Not just the hostages—half of Li Jing Square will be leveled by the explosion!"

Yet after those forceful words fell, what returned was deathly silence.

Through his mask, Chrysalis Man stared motionlessly at Green Wing.

He closed his book and said calmly, "Easy there, Mr. Green Wing. If you have the guts to detonate them, then go ahead... But you wouldn't be stupid enough to do that, would you? After all, no matter how useless your brain is, you should have realized this: if the hostages die, you'll lose your bargaining chips against us. When that happens, whose side will be in the worse position?"

"You..."

Green Wing was choked speechless. Chrysalis Man's words had struck right at his thoughts—he could use the hostages to threaten upright figures like Blue Arc, but clearly, this freak hanging beneath the billboard was no upright figure. From the very beginning, he had not cared whether the hostages lived or died, so Green Wing's methods had lost all meaning.

Blue Arc lowered his voice and asked his teammates through his built-in earpiece, "Who is this? Do you know him?"

"No." The female voice paused in surprise. "We've never seen him."

"I'm warning you, let my men go!" Green Wing spread his wings, poised to strike. "Otherwise, I'll butcher you."

"Let them go?" Chrysalis Man paused. "All right, as you wish."

As soon as he spoke, the Restraint Bands wrapped around the five bandits suddenly tightened, severing their necks. Five heads slid neatly down from midair and landed on the ground with a crisp smack, while blood burst uncontrollably from the wounds in the necks of the five corpses like fountains.

Beneath the bloody fountains formed by the five headless bodies, the five hostages knelt on the ground with stunned expressions. Their mouths were stuffed with rags, leaving them unable to make a sound, but their heads had already been sprayed red, and blood pooled beneath them.

Green Wing stood dumbfounded, his face turning utterly grim.

"Didn't I let them go as you requested, Mr. Green Wing...? Though I only let go of their 'heads.' Why do you look so unhappy?"

Without even lifting his head, Chrysalis Man turned the pages of his book while using the black Restraint Bands to lift the bandits' heads one by one, delivering them before each of the five hostages and placing them on the ground in front of them.

Then, he used the Restraint Bands to untie only the ropes around the hostages' hands before binding the guns the bandits had held and handing them to the hostages.

One gun each. The distribution was perfectly fair.

The hostages stared blankly at the heads before them, then dumbly at the guns held before their eyes by the Restraint Bands.

Before they could recover their senses, amid the rustling sound of fingers brushing over pages, Chrysalis Man spoke casually. "They had guns pressed to the backs of your heads just now. Don't you resent them? Now it's your turn. Hmm..."

At that point, he turned to the next page and stared fixedly at the words on it, the Corner of His Mouth beneath his mask curving faintly upward. "What goes around comes around. That's fair."

The next moment, one of the hostages finally let out a delayed scream. It was a Young Man in a school uniform.

Blue Arc frowned, but did not act rashly.

Just then, an icy notification suddenly sounded beside Ji Minghuan's ear.

Warning: Role-Playing Anchor Point Deviation: 0%→30% (When deviation exceeds "70%," the character has a certain probability of entering a berserk state)

Scenario Prompt: The character you are currently playing is positioned as a "Gray Character." Your methods should be more "peaceful," otherwise you will be unable to gain the trust of "upright characters."

"Oh no... my God, how could I twist off these scumbags' heads? Now my story can't be adapted into a children's animated film. Everyone needs a role model who isn't so R18." Chrysalis Man raised a hand to his forehead and sighed softly. "But it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are gone. Every evil person deserves a chance at redemption, doesn't he?"

As he spoke, he used the Restraint Bands to lift the heads lying in the pools of blood one after another, placing them back atop their incomplete bodies. He then wrapped the bands once around their necks and tied them in knots, making it look as though... the heads had never left the bandits' bodies at all.

"Yes, this is much better... practically good as new."

Chrysalis Man nodded, looking quite pleased with himself.

The square was silent. The looks people gave him became even more terrified.

Warning: Role-Playing Anchor Point Deviation: 30%→40% (When deviation exceeds "70%," the character has a certain probability of entering a berserk state)

"Forget it... it doesn't matter. Life is bound to have one or two stains, a few minor flaws." Chrysalis Man shook his head, flipping through the pages as he spoke as though nothing had happened. "You know, the most popular thing in shonen manga is hot-blooded action series, while the most popular animated films are Miyazaki Hayao's movies. So it would be terrible if there were scenes unsuitable for children. After all, I'm counting on my biographical film appearing in elementary and middle school textbooks someday."

After saying that, he glanced sideways at the screaming Young Man among the hostages. Raising his right index finger, he pointed its tip at one of the bandits hanging overhead. "Kid, all that just now was some holographic projection effect. Their heads are all still hanging nicely on their necks. Hmm... if you don't believe me, look."

Before he could finish, a Restraint Band loosened slightly, and a head fell from midair into the pool of blood. Bright red liquid splashed beside the boy's feet, staining his shoes red.

Immediately afterward, another scream, suppressed to the absolute limit, rose from among the hostages. It thoroughly jolted the others out of their stunned state, and they began screaming as well.

For a moment, they did not know whether they had been saved or had fallen into the hands of a more bizarre, more unpredictable madman.

Warning: Role-Playing Anchor Point Deviation: 40%→42% (When deviation exceeds "70%," the character may enter a berserk state)

"Purely an accident..."

Chrysalis Man raised his eyebrows and covered his ears with one hand to make their screams less piercing, while closing the book with the other.

"You... who are you?" In the silence, Blue Arc stared at him and asked, nearly word by word.

"Actually, I'd like to ask myself that too. What am I...? Objectively speaking, I'm not an upright figure, but I can't be considered a villain either. Hmm, then what exactly am I?"

Still hanging upside down beneath the streetlamp, Chrysalis Man muttered to himself as he raised his right hand. A Restraint Band extended outward, grabbed the bloody head lying on the ground, then rapidly contracted and pulled the bandit's head back into his palm.

A row of police cars was parked not far away. Their alternating red and blue lights reflected off his mask, flickering on and off like a ghost.

Along his right arm, the Restraint Bands surged upward like a tide, methodically wrapping and covering the bloody head in his hand layer by layer until it looked like a black "ball," one that should feel pretty good to bounce.

Under the gaze of tens of millions, Ji Minghuan lowered his eyes beneath the mask. As he bounced the black ball, he spoke casually. "I'm merely... a 'Gray Character.' I don't want to be an upright figure, and I can't be called a villain either. Strictly speaking, I don't want to be defined by anyone. In any case, believe me, Blue Arc. We'll become very good friends in the future."

Blue Arc said quietly, "You killed those bandits."

Chrysalis Man asked in return, "Would you be happier if the dead ones were the hostages?"

"Murder is murder. You must face legal punishment."

Chrysalis Man shook his head and sighed. "How boring. I believe that isn't what you truly think. You're only saying it because of the pressure from the cameras... Let's talk alone, Blue Arc. Let me hear what you truly think."

As soon as he spoke, he tightened his five fingers slightly around the "ball" and casually tossed it toward Blue Arc.

Blue Arc caught the black ball. The Restraint Bands attached to it slowly receded, retracting back to Chrysalis Man's body, and the ball turned back into a savage, bloody human head.

He held the bandit's head in both hands, its streaming blood staining his metal gloves red.

"So, Mr. Blue Arc, whether you're willing to meet is up to you..."

After saying that, Chrysalis Man waved a Restraint Band at Blue Arc while reading The Stranger, as though waving goodbye.

Then his body was pulled upward by the Restraint Bands. As though his entire body was completely free from the constraints of gravity, he leapt and weaved through the neon lights with the help of the bands, as fast as a paper figure swept away by a gale. In only a few seconds, he vanished amid the shattered neon lights and slipped into the thick night.