White Crow Troupe

After loading Xia Pingzhou's Character Memory, Ji Minghuan was able to understand the text message he had just received.

Anonymous User: Underground Bar in an alley in Tokyo's Fifth District. We'll be waiting for you in the third private room.

There was no doubt that this message came from the White Crow Troupe—today was the day Xia Pingzhou was supposed to meet them for the first time.

Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow, opened his phone's navigation app, and made his way to the destination. He descended the stairs and entered the Underground Bar.

For some reason, even though it was clearly morning, the place was filled with people drinking and socializing, exceptionally lively. Of course, it was possible these people had been drinking through the night until dawn, but that was a little too energetic.

He passed through the gaudily dressed crowd, arrived outside the third private room, raised his hand, and gently knocked on the door.

The people inside this room were members of the White Crow Troupe... Double S-Rank wanted targets of the Esper Association. Of course, they might use some impostors to test me, but that doesn't seem like their style.

With the noisy crowd behind him, Ji Minghuan was already praying to every god and Buddha in his heart, lowering his expectations as much as possible. It'll be a success as long as I don't die too quickly. At least until the third Game Character is created, I hope this character can stay alive. Otherwise, all my actions will be restricted again.

With a click, someone turned the doorknob and opened the door for him.

Through the crack, he saw that the person opening it was a girl in a dark red kimono, with elegant, shoulder-length black hair. Her expression was indifferent. She looked like a doll made in Japan, her skin pale and white, her large eyes hollow and lifeless. Staring at her for too long made one's skin crawl.

The girl said nothing, merely staring quietly at him.

"Please come in."

A gentle voice spoke in Japanese from inside. It was clear that his Japanese carried a British accent.

Ji Minghuan walked in and saw the other two figures sitting on the sofa, playing cards.

These people all had highly distinctive appearances. The man on the left wore a V-neck shirt and had a square mechanical box over his head. The box completely enclosed his head, with two Bone White antennae protruding from its top.

On the right sat a blond, blue-eyed young man in a British suit, with a permanent curve at the Corner of His Mouth.

"A Newbie?" the Kimono Girl behind him asked in Japanese.

"He looks like his photo. He's No. 12's replacement. The captain is very interested in his ability and sent us over to see whether we're satisfied with him first." The man with the Mechanical Box Head spoke in a steady voice.

"Then shall we introduce ourselves first?" The man in the British suit set down his cards and said with a smile.

The girl in the kimono remained quietly silent. Then, a magazine from a nearby drawer suddenly flew into the air. Its pages tore apart one after another, becoming a fluttering mass of paper scraps. The scraps drifted before her and formed a line of Japanese text in midair:

—I'm Ayase Origami, ranked No. 3 in the troupe.

Ji Minghuan looked at the words formed from paper scraps. An esper ability that controls paper objects?

His expression remained calm as he said, "Xia Pingzhou. I'm here to take No. 12's place."

In his memories, Xia Pingzhou had been a man of few words, someone who always wore a poker face.

Of course, the White Crow Troupe had not yet officially come into contact with Xia Pingzhou, so they had no concrete impression of his personality. Ji Minghuan could therefore overturn Xia Pingzhou's original character however he liked and create an entirely new persona.

But after thinking it over, he decided it would be better to speak less in this group. Establishing himself as a taciturn person would effectively prevent trouble from coming out of his mouth.

His gaze swept across the three people present. Coincidentally, two of them occupied a certain place in Xia Pingzhou's memories.

Over the past half year, Xia Pingzhou had investigated the White Crow Troupe's background almost madly. He had scoured all kinds of dark web sites and found video clips and surveillance footage related to them. Combined with the information currently made public by the authorities, he could already recognize the appearances of most troupe members.

Both the blond, blue-eyed young man and the girl in the kimono were Quasi-Calamity Level Espers.

However, this "Quasi-Calamity Level" classification was Xia Pingzhou's own judgment based on the intelligence he had gathered. He guessed that even if they were not Quasi-Calamity Grade, the two were at least above Dragon Grade, having reached the threshold of Quasi-Calamity Grade.

As for the man with the robot head, he had no idea. Xia Pingzhou had not uncovered any information about him.

"I'm Anluns, ranked No. 11 in the troupe," the blond, blue-eyed young man said.

"Robert, ranked No. 7 in the troupe." The strange man whose head was encased in a mechanical box said, "They all call me Carrot Head. You can call me that too."

Ji Minghuan nodded at him.

"Mm, it's about time we got moving." Anluns looked down at his watch. "But before we go, there's something we should take care of. The captain said to kill everyone in the bar before we leave. Some of them are planning to make a move at the auction a week from now, and that conflicts with our itinerary."

Ji Minghuan considered it. "So my entry test is to go out there and kill them all?"

"Of course not... That's just something to do along the way. If the captain's interest in you is justified, killing them doesn't count as a test for you. You only need to consider what posture would make it easiest," Anluns paused. "Don't be in a hurry... Let me see if there's a way that saves some Kung Fu."

As he spoke, a strange gleam flashed through his eyes. Then, a blue Slot Machine three or four meters tall suddenly appeared, standing silently at his side.

A Slot Machine. No. 11's esper ability... I wonder what it does, Ji Minghuan thought.

Anluns leaned crookedly against the side of the Slot Machine and raised a hand to pull its Joystick. Amid the rattling game sounds, the three reels began spinning at high speed to draw the result.

When the dust settled, the Slot Machine's display showed three Rocket Launchers side by side.

Ayase Origami fell silent. Robert beside her also fell silent.

"Well, never mind that." Anluns spread his hands. "Looks like I rolled something a little... high-profile."

"Newbie, let's go."

As Robert spoke, he had already pressed his hand against the wall of the private room. Using his ability, he created a doorway in the wall that led to an unknown destination.

"If we don't leave now, we'll get blown away, Newbie," Ayase Origami reminded him expressionlessly. She was the first to turn the handle on the doorway and step into the world beyond it.

"Go, go. We'll take you somewhere fun." Anluns casually threw an arm around Ji Minghuan's shoulders and led him toward the portal in the wall.

"Aren't we killing everyone in the bar?" Ji Minghuan asked casually, his peripheral vision still fixed on the Slot Machine.

"What are you talking about? They... are already dead." Anluns leaned close to his ear and lowered his voice.

The next moment, the Slot Machine's front casing opened, and an enormous Rocket Launcher slowly extended from within. Then, accompanied by an ear-splitting boom, flames capable of shooting straight into the sky erupted from its muzzle. They melted the entire private room with devastating force and roared toward the bar's main hall outside.

Unfortunately, the four of them could not see what the Underground Bar looked like now... because by the time they came back to their senses, they had already passed through the portal. As the doorway in the wall vanished, the commotion beyond the door was cut off countless kilometers away.

Ji Minghuan heard only an instant of roaring, but before the door closed, he clearly felt the scorching wind blowing against his back.

He could tell... no one in the entire bar should have survived. No, not just the bar. There would likely be no survivors in the alley where the bar was located or in the nearby residential area either.

And in another hour or two, this news would probably shock all of Japan.

Dealing with these lunatics is much more interesting than playing house with two Calamity Grade big shots.

Thinking with great interest, Ji Minghuan looked up and saw what appeared to be an office building that had long been abandoned.

Inside the office, the walls and floor had not been cleaned in ages. Dust-covered desks were scattered haphazardly, and one or two battered computers still sat on some of them.

Japanese banners were posted on the walls to either side.

The banner on the left read: Strictly observe working hours! Don't waste a single second!

The banner on the right read: The workplace is a battlefield! Always maintain peak concentration!

Heh, this place really reeks of corporate slave life. Don't tell me some corporate slave demon was born here? Ji Minghuan thought.

He glanced from the corner of his eye at the mechanical-headed man named Robert and made a guess in his heart.

It seems No. 7's ability is to create a portal in a wall that connects two different locations. No wonder Xia Pingzhou couldn't find any information about him—he's a utility member. He usually doesn't need to participate in combat, so naturally outsiders wouldn't see him.

Though he understood, Ji Minghuan still spoke up to confirm it with the three of them.

"Where is this? Weren't we just in an Underground Bar in the Port District?"

Anluns released his shoulder and explained, "Robert's ability is to leave portals in places he has visited. As long as the distance between any two portals isn't too great, he can connect them."

He paused. "This is an office building in Tokyo Port District. Two employees died suddenly from overwork here in succession before, so the Japanese Authorities forced the company to shut down. The building was left vacant."

"More importantly, what do you want me to do?"

"Shh, do you see that?" Anluns stared straight ahead and teased, "What do we want you to do? Naturally, the thing you Exorcists are best at."

Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, he caught a strong, strange stench in the air and immediately understood.

"A demon?"

"That's right. The three of us will stand behind you and watch you beat each other senseless with that demon, then score you... If more than two of us are dissatisfied with your performance, we won't just refuse to let you join the troupe—we'll kill you on the spot." Anluns smiled. "Looks like your opponent has arrived. Aren't you going to welcome it?"

As his words fell, a mass of shadow suddenly appeared on the floor in the center of the gloomy office. It spread like a black lake, and then an enormous shadow slowly rose from the black waters, exposing itself to the sunlight.

Requesting Moon Tickets! Thank you all for following along!