Getting Acquainted

The passive skill—Restraint Belt Detection—had been triggered.

The system prompt sounded, and a red-and-black panel popped up. Brown text, like migrating ants, crawled one by one across Ji Minghuan's pupils.

Target Gender: Female

Target Attributes: Strength: B Rank; Speed: B++ Rank; Mental: A Rank

Supernatural Race: Exorcist

Rank: Second Order (Exorcists are divided into a total of three orders)

Heavenly Drive: Retro Monocle (SS-rank rarity among Heavenly Drives) (The demons currently bound to this Heavenly Drive are: Train Demon, Movie Demon)

I still don't know what a "Heavenly Drive" is, but judging from the data, this woman should be upper-mid-tier combat power among the exorcists. No wonder Su Zimai calls her Teacher. Too bad... she's still nowhere near as strong as the two Calamity Overlords in our family.

While joking to himself, Ji Minghuan quietly withdrew his right hand and slipped it into the pocket of his school uniform jacket.

Then he said to Ke Qirui, "My little sister is in your care, then. I need to go home and take a shower. I've got plans to play games with friends tonight."

Ke Qirui's right hand paused in midair for a second before she imperceptibly raised an eyebrow.

She lifted her eyes from beneath the shadow of her cap brim and studied Ji Minghuan with interest. "I'll take good care of her. If you need anything, feel free to contact me."

"What do you mean, I'm in her care?" Su Zimai frowned and looked at Ji Minghuan.

"You're the one with too many complaints."

As he spoke, Ji Minghuan casually scratched the top of Su Zimai's head. "If you hadn't run away from home, I'd have finished showering and be lying in bed resting by now. Understand?"

Unexpectedly, Su Zimai did not resist. She only froze for a moment. Growing up, neither she nor Gu Wenyu had ever been this close with her.

Meanwhile, Ke Qirui silently watched Ji Minghuan's right hand. After a long while, she suddenly said, "How about we exchange contact information? That way, you can both worry a little less."

Ji Minghuan nodded. "True. Otherwise, it'll be hard to report back to my older brother. Want to add each other on WeChat?"

"Sorry, I only have a phone number."

"Oh. Then phone numbers it is."

Ignoring Su Zimai's attempts to stop them, the two efficiently exchanged phone numbers.

"I'll get going, then. You two talk."

With that, Ji Minghuan got up from the swing, dusted off his butt, and left.

Under the silent gazes of the two girls, he leisurely walked out of the park. At the corner, the ink-dark dusk swallowed his retreating figure.

On a dimly lit street, a car roared past. Ji Minghuan slowed to a stop and suddenly thought, Come to think of it, why hasn't Su Zimai's quest been completed yet? Don't I already know she's an exorcist?

With that thought, Ji Minghuan brought up the Task Panel and checked the progress of the four Main Quests.

Main Quest 1 (Third Stage): Complete your first cooperation with the Esper "Blue Arc" and deepen his trust.

Main Quest 2 (Second Stage): Establish a cooperative relationship with the supercriminal "Ghost Bell," thereby expanding your connections among evil Espers.

Main Quest 3: Investigate what your "younger sister," Su Zimai, is hiding.

Main Quest 4: Investigate what your "best friend," Li Qingping, is hiding.

He thought it over. It seems I could complete the first stages of the first two quests, but not the quest to "investigate my sister's identity," because I immediately learned that Gu Qiye was Blue Arc and Gu Zhuoan was Ghost Bell. But I still don't know exactly what identity my sister holds among the exorcists. That's why it didn't work.

Ji Minghuan closed every panel in his vision and shrugged. "Looks like I'll need to find time to follow her."

If he turned around and followed the two people in the park now, he would most likely learn what sort of position his sister held among the demon hunters, then naturally complete "Main Quest 3."

But with this character's current strength, tailing Ke Qirui would be nothing but courting death. Ji Minghuan had at least that much self-awareness... By the same logic, unless he learned a skill similar to "Stealth Aura," rashly following the other people in his family would also be suicidal—especially that old man codenamed "Ghost Bell."

Given the combat instincts Gu Zhuoan had developed over the past two years, if he encountered someone following him outside, he might kill them before even confirming their identity. Just like earlier, when Ji Minghuan had merely touched him with the Restraint Band in the kitchen and gotten his wrist seized.

"I'll have to work with Old Man in the mask later, too. Hopefully, he's as easy to talk to as my older brother."

Ji Minghuan murmured softly. As he rubbed his Tianming Acupoint, he yawned. "I should sleep early tonight. I can't wait to find out what kind of monster my next Game Character will be."

Meanwhile, back in the park.

Ke Qirui lowered her eyes and stared expressionlessly at her right palm. The subtle, unusual sensation from when she had shaken Ji Minghuan's hand earlier lingered in her mind.

Su Zimai picked up her backpack from the sand and asked, "What's wrong, Captain?"

Ke Qirui rested a hand against her chin and murmured absentmindedly, "Your brother... seems a little unusual."

"Him?" Su Zimai froze. "What do you mean?"

Ke Qirui fell silent for half a second, sorting through what had just happened in her head.

Was he worried that his sister might be in danger, so he tested me...? Judging from his display, that kind of instantaneous ability should only be usable by Espers. Anecdote Envoys and exorcists both need to meet certain prerequisites before releasing their powers, but I didn't see him make any preparatory movements.

Judging from Wheat's reaction... she seems unaware that her brother is an Esper. Could he have been secretly protecting her for a long time?

It looks like he doesn't want Wheat to know his identity, either. Then there's no need for me to meddle.

Thinking this, Ke Qirui glanced at Su Zimai and casually brushed it off. "How should I put it? His temperament, his looks... or maybe just the feeling he gives me?"

As she spoke, she suddenly shook her head. "Forget it. It's nothing, really. Pretend I never mentioned it."

"Huh? Captain, you're awful. You actually got me curious." Su Zimai frowned. "Do you mean... my brother has the potential to become an exorcist too?"

"No. I can't sense the rudiments of a Heavenly Drive from him. Let's not talk about this."

"You... don't have a crush on my brother, do you? You kept staring at him just now." Su Zimai waggled her brows.

Ke Qirui raised the corners of her cool eyes and asked with mild curiosity, "Hm? Why would you think that?"

"You were weirdly concerned about him. At first, I thought you wanted to recruit him, but then you said he didn't have the potential to be an exorcist. What else could it be?"

"Just a small misunderstanding."

"True... I always felt like you were the type who liked girls, Captain."

"Objectively speaking, I think the only one I've ever had a crush on was Sherlock Holmes from the novels."

As she spoke, Ke Qirui tucked her right hand back into her trench coat pocket, raised her other hand to ruffle Su Zimai's hair, and curled her lips at her. "Pack up your things. If you don't want to go home, then don't. Stay with me during Summer Vacation."

"Why are you touching my head too?"

"I just suddenly wanted to try it," Ke Qirui said, pulling the smoking pipe hidden in her pocket from within and placing it between her lips. Then she asked, "Your brother can touch your head, but your captain can't?"

"It's not that. He was just suddenly acting crazy, and I didn't react in time."

"Come to think of it, that was the first time I'd met your family. Why didn't you introduce them to me before?"

Su Zimai said expressionlessly, "Forget it. They're all Muggles. We live in two different worlds."

She paused. "Especially my Big Brother. He has enough on his plate studying while taking care of us. I don't want them getting involved in these dangerous things."

"Is that so? What a pity." Ke Qirui did not seem bothered. She took a drag from her pipe and said, "Then let's go."

With that, she headed for the park exit ahead of Su Zimai, who followed after her.

"You old smoker, you stopped pretending as soon as my brother left?" Su Zimai muttered.

"I can't let people find out their little sister is going to spend an entire summer with an old smoker, can I?" Ke Qirui teased.

"Who cares about them? By the way, are we having the Train Demon take us to Tokyo tonight?"

"Mm. There are some matters to discuss with the Exorcist Association in Japan tomorrow."

"Then I want tempura shrimp. I haven't even had dinner yet, and they started arguing."

"Fine, fine. Whatever Mai Mai wants to eat, I'll treat you."

There would be another chapter later.