Nickname

July 9, 2020, 11:00 p.m., Gu Yi Mai Community.

After his private meeting on the trail ended, Ji Minghuan relied on the Restraint Band's innate mobility to swiftly weave through streets, alleys, and towering buildings. Glass curtain walls reflected his darting figure, the metallic edges of his mask gleaming with cold moonlight in the reflections.

From afar, he looked like a speeding black cloud, soaring, swinging, spiraling down. The tails of his black Tailcoat billowed in the wind above the city, pressing together and spreading apart with a snapping rustle like sails drifting across the Atlantic Ocean.

He avoided every monitored area along the way, as well as places brightly lit by neon, especially the bustling night markets. At this hour, Li Capital's nightlife had only just begun. The long streets were packed with an endless stream of people, many stopping beneath massive LED screens to watch live news from the city center.

Fortunately, he still made it home before Gu Qiye. Otherwise, what came next would have been difficult to handle.

To be safe, Ji Minghuan did not enter directly through the front door. Instead, he used the Restraint Band to offset his weight, leaped onto the second-floor eaves, and slipped into his room through the open floor-to-ceiling window.

Without looking back, he headed for the bed and used the Restraint Band to close the window behind him, shutting out the city's clamor.

He raised a hand to his ear and removed the black mask fitted with a Voice Changer, then tossed the Swallowtail Windbreaker draped over him onto the floor. Too tired to move for even half a second, he fell backward onto the bed and sprawled there, letting the Restraint Band change him into clean pajamas.

After changing his clothes for him like an intimate mistress, the Restraint Band spinning at his side gathered the mask and windbreaker from the floor, placed them in a storage box at the bottom of the wardrobe, then slipped back into Ji Minghuan's sleeve.

To be honest, he had looked carefree in front of everyone just now, even reading with ease while hanging upside down beneath the billboard. But Ji Minghuan had actually been quite troubled. While suspended in midair, he had needed to use one Restraint Band the entire time to hold the tails of his coat in place against his body;

Otherwise, the moment he spoke, the tails would have drooped down and completely covered his mask. That sight would probably have made everyone laugh.

"Our comrade Blue Arc still isn't back. It really isn't easy..."

Ji Minghuan yawned and muttered in the darkness.

He knew Gu Qiye could not possibly move that quickly. After all, unlike him, Gu Qiye was an Esper affiliated with the authorities.

Gu Qiye needed to explain the mission and report the relevant matters to the Esper Association. In particular, he had just abandoned Green Wing, left Li Jing Square, and headed to a secluded trail nearby for a private meeting with the Chrysalis Man played by Ji Minghuan.

Although Green Wing had indeed been like a turtle in a jar under those circumstances, with the Esper squad surrounding him from every direction around the square, Gu Qiye's actions were still open to question.

After all, Ji Minghuan had just used provocative wording such as, "Would you be willing to meet with me?" Anyone who saw that scene would have a hard time not suspecting that the Chrysalis Man had invited Blue Arc to meet privately in order to discuss something shady.

There were no cameras there, and it was far from both residential districts and the city center. Naturally, no one knew what the two had discussed. The Association would certainly question Gu Qiye seriously about it to uncover the background of this Esper who had appeared out of nowhere.

Of course, Ji Minghuan was not worried that this would cause Gu Qiye any trouble.

He figured Gu Qiye would play dumb in front of his superiors—or rather, he had no choice but to play dumb. There was no other path forward.

After all, in Gu Qiye's eyes, that mysterious "Chrysalis Man" still had a grasp on his identity and motives. If he disclosed his conversation with the Chrysalis Man in full in his report, then the one in danger clearly would not be the Chrysalis Man, but Gu Qiye himself.

Only an idiot would lay out their entire conversation under such circumstances.

Gu Qiye clearly was not stupid enough to make that mistake.

So when facing the Association's questioning, he would most likely only be able to muddle through with excuses such as, "I was injured, my speed slowed down, and I couldn't catch him." Especially since he had just participated in operations to apprehend two Esper criminals and was seriously wounded, that was practically a life-saving card.

Considering his injuries and past accomplishments, the Association's people certainly would not press him relentlessly for answers. They would soon let him return to recover and temporarily set the matter aside.

It began to rain outside.

The rain pattered softly. Ji Minghuan opened his eyes and stared blankly for a while at the rain-spattered window.

Large raindrops pounded against the eaves, breaking into a mist that crept up the window.

After a while, he raised his hand and tapped the gear icon in the lower-right corner of his vision, opening the System Panel and bringing up the Main Quest.

Main Quest 1 (Second Stage): Establish a cooperative relationship with the Esper "Blue Arc," then develop connections within the Esper Association. (Incomplete)

It was completely impossible to make Gu Qiye trust him at this point. Moreover, their cooperation had not officially begun yet, so the quest was currently in a state of "pending completion."

But Ji Minghuan was not worried at all, because the initiative had always been in his hands.

As long as his Main Body had not been taken apart by those bastards at the laboratory, he would have plenty of time in the future to hop around Li Capital in this body.

Based on what he knew of Gu Qiye, earning the other man's trust was only a matter of time.

If he could never earn his trust, Ji Minghuan might try playing dirty and offer conditions the other man could not refuse, turning "cooperation" into one-sided "coercion." After all, his Main Body was still in a life-or-death situation. Under such circumstances, he had no time to play house with them.

"Oh, right... I just got the quest reward." Ji Minghuan's eyes lit up.

He remembered that he had just completed the first stage of this Main Quest: "Investigate what secret Gu Qiye is hiding." He had then received the quest rewards—one Split Point, one Skill Point, and one Attribute Point. It sounded rather generous.

He climbed out of bed and opened his personal panel. Dense lines of text crawled across his vision like ants.

Character Name: Gu Wenyu

Character Type: Esper

Current Nickname: None (You have gained a certain degree of fame in the real world and will soon receive your own nickname. Please wait patiently.)

Character Age: 17

Character Gender: Male

Character Attributes: Strength (determines Physical Quality): C-rank; Speed (determines Nerve Reaction): C-rank; Spirit (determines Mental Strength): C-rank

Overall Rating: C-rank

Current Event Cards Held: 0

Current Attribute Points Held: 1

Seeing that the note beneath the nickname field had changed, Ji Minghuan casually guessed,

"What kind of name will they give me? 'Xenomorph'? Or... 'Bandage Freak'?"