Peering

Through the Restraint Belt Senses, Ji Minghuan caught a glimpse of the first-floor Living Room and immediately confirmed a startling fact: Gu Qiye was the famed Esper of Li Jing City—"Blue Arc."

Main Quest 1 completed: Investigate what his "older brother," Gu Qiye, was hiding.

Mission rewards obtained: 1 Split Point, 1 Skill Point, 1 Attribute Point.

Main Quest 1 updated: Establish a cooperative relationship with the Esper "Blue Arc," then build interpersonal connections within the Esper Association.

In the darkness, Ji Minghuan temporarily ignored the panels before him, simply moving them aside. He then focused on monitoring Gu Qiye's every word and action through the Restraint Belt Senses.

Although Gu Qiye was downstairs on the first floor while Ji Minghuan remained in his room on the second, he did not act rashly. His entire body remained completely still, making as little sound as possible—after all, he had no idea how sharp the hearing of a top-tier Esper like Gu Qiye might be. Perhaps even turning on the light in his room would be enough for his brother downstairs to hear.

"He got away again. That's the second time..." Downstairs in the Living Room, Gu Qiye sat down against the wall.

He placed the Metal Helmet beside him and wrapped a bandage around his neck wound as he muttered, "He's really hard to catch... No wonder the Esper branch next door couldn't get him after all these years. Looks like I overestimated myself."

At that point, Gu Qiye mocked himself with a wry smile. "Since he's come to our side, we're going to be busy from now on."

Ji Minghuan listened to his muttering through the Restraint Belt Senses. His lively eyes shifted in the darkness as he speculated, An Esper criminal who came over from next door? Gu Qiye's strength is obvious to all. There are only a handful of Esper criminals who could beat him... In that case, he must have faced the "Ghost Bell" mentioned in the news earlier. The host also said Ghost Bell had only arrived in this city recently and had provoked the Esper Association. Gu Qiye is "Blue Arc," a key figure in the Li Jing branch, so it makes sense for him to have been sent to investigate.

Looking over Gu Qiye's injuries, he reached another conclusion. It looks like they just fought. Gu Qiye was no match for his opponent and had no choice but to flee home.

With that thought, Ji Minghuan pulled out his phone and searched the internet for information about "Ghost Bell" while continuing to listen in on what Gu Qiye was doing downstairs through the Restraint Belt Senses.

"Ghost Bell" was an infamous Esper criminal. Over the past few years, he had killed a large number of Espers in Miao City, next to Li Jing, and destroyed many buildings of significant cultural value.

Yet strangely, he had never harmed ordinary people, nor had he ever committed robbery. It felt as though his crimes were simply meant to attract attention. No one knew his true purpose; perhaps only Ghost Bell himself knew.

By the looks of it, Gu Qiye had just fought the Esper criminal codenamed "Ghost Bell," been badly injured, and fled home to bandage his wounds. In Gu Wenyu's memories, his older brother had never seemed this pathetic. Of course, perhaps Gu Wenyu had simply never discovered Gu Qiye's other side.

So Ghost Bell is that powerful? Ji Minghuan thought.

After wrapping the wound on his neck, Gu Qiye drew a deep breath, rested the back of his head against the wall, and closed his eyes. He sat motionless in the dark like an old monk entering nirvana, making Ji Minghuan wonder whether he might fall asleep and never open his eyes again.

After a while, Gu Qiye's phone suddenly rang.

The Doraemon opening theme rang out with piercing sharpness amid the Dead Silence. He opened his eyes, helplessly pulled out his phone, and answered it.

Tilting his head, he pinned the phone against his ear with his shoulder. "What? Did you call just to laugh at me the moment you heard I lost?"

A cool female voice came from the other end. "No. A criminal has taken a group of hostages in Li Jing Square. He specifically demanded that you appear before him, and he said that every ten minutes, he'll kill one hostage."

Gu Qiye froze for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Don't tell me... it's Ghost Bell again?"

"No, not this time. Ghost Bell fled the harbor after fighting you. The other Espers on the team are still pursuing him, so he has no time to show up at Li Jing Square."

"Then who is it?"

"The one causing trouble at the square is another Esper criminal, codenamed 'Green Wing.'" The woman paused. "...You have too many enemies."

"Tonight really won't end, will it?"

Gu Qiye sighed as he took off the upper half of his uniform, exposing his lean, muscular body in the darkness.

Through the Restraint Belt Senses, Ji Minghuan could clearly see a horrifying gash at Gu Qiye's waist. The surrounding skin was smeared with bright red blood, and the untreated wound was worsening—fortunately, Gu Qiye was an Esper. An ordinary person would have fainted long ago from an injury like that.

"You'd better move quickly. They're already preparing to harm the first hostage," the voice on the phone said. "If a hostage dies on camera in public and the footage gets out, it'll severely damage the image of our Association branch."

"I understand... Keep him occupied for now. Do everything you can to stop him from hurting the hostages. I'll be there soon." With the phone pinned between his shoulder and ear, Gu Qiye lowered his gaze and wrapped several layers of bandage around the bloody gash at his waist, without even disinfecting it first.

"Understood." The woman paused, then asked softly, "Are your injuries serious?"

"I'm fine. I can hold on..." Gu Qiye said carelessly, then suddenly tightened his hands and tied the bandage around his waist into a knot, letting out a muffled groan.

After barely stopping the bleeding, he exhaled and put on the blue-and-cyan Metal Battle Suit again. He donned the symbolic helmet of the Esper "Blue Arc" and turned toward the entryway.

As Gu Qiye's back disappeared into the far end of the entryway, Ji Minghuan slowly withdrew the Pitch-Black Restraint Band pressed against the floor. The view that had penetrated the floor vanished, along with his superhuman hearing.

"He's still planning to go out in that condition..."

Hearing the sound of the door closing downstairs, Ji Minghuan raised his brows and murmured with interest.

He could tell from Gu Qiye's conversation that Gu Qiye had just narrowly escaped death at Ghost Bell's hands. Then, another Esper criminal had appeared in a square in the center of Li Jing City, specifically demanding his presence and threatening to kill the hostages he held if Gu Qiye did not appear.

Under such extreme circumstances, as the public face of the Li Jing Esper Association branch, Gu Qiye could not possibly turn a blind eye even if he was seriously injured.

He had to go—not only to save the hostages' lives, but also to preserve the public's trust in the Esper Association. If he avoided the situation, or if a hostage died during this televised crime, it would undoubtedly spark a public backlash that would be difficult to quell.

Ji Minghuan did not turn on the lights in his room, lest Gu Qiye notice that the upstairs window was still lit after leaving.

He lightly dropped from the bed and crouched beside the Floor-to-Ceiling Window like a wildcat, lowering his eyes toward the street by moonlight.

The instant Gu Qiye, clad in Blue Arc's Battle Suit, stepped out of the house, his body transformed into a streak of Deep Blue Electric Light and shot through the darkness at the end of the street. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from Ji Minghuan's sight.

So fast... He's injured, yet he can still move at that speed. No wonder he's Li Jing City's big star, Ji Minghuan thought sincerely.

He stared at the empty street for a while before withdrawing his gaze from the window and slowly turning his head. In the moonlight, his eyes drifted toward the pitch-black mask he had casually tossed into a corner of the room earlier, as well as the folded Swallowtail Windbreaker.

The next moment, Ji Minghuan suddenly extended his right hand toward the mask. Pitch-black restraint strips stretched forward like bandages, climbing to the edge of the mask in an instant and tightly wrapping around it before pulling it back toward him.

He grasped the mask in his palm, rose to his feet, and walked toward the door.

As he passed the wardrobe, he casually used the Restraint Band to pull up the windbreaker from the bottom, then slowly left the room.