A Bolt From The Blue

Breathing heavily, Tang Ze straightened up, wiping the blood from his cheek with a hiss.

The screaming, grotesque giant spider scattered into a pile of swords. Maru Denjirou, his hair undone and clothes disheveled from the fight, lay on the ground begging for mercy.

"Get out of the way, you uncouth scum." Tang Ze nudged the mud-like figure sprawled on the ground with his toe and walked towards the house behind him.

"No, don't take it!" Maru Denjirou's Shadow grabbed Tang Ze's ankle, crying and pleading, "Don't take it, take anything you want, treasure, money, just don't take it—"

Tang Ze squatted down, smiling as he patted Maru Denjirou's cheek with the dagger still covered in black mud. "That's the face, that's the pain. Do you feel the sins you've inflicted on others? Keep crying, louder."

With that, he kicked away Maru Denjirou's hand and entered the main house amidst his cries.

Inside stood a cabinet made of excellent wood. Tang Ze's expression turned subtle upon seeing the familiar furniture.

He guessed this was the cabinet Maru Denjirou used to carve death messages in that manga...

It could be considered a mutual pursuit, how amusing.

Tang Ze reached out and took the treasure-emitting object from the top of the cabinet.

It was a folding fan with a gold paper surface. The handle was crafted with the finest mother-of-pearl inlay, and the fan surface bore a shining golden character "Maru".

Flipping it over, he saw a painting of a warrior wielding a sword against an evil spirit.

"How interesting." Tang Ze examined the painting closely, feeling an indescribable sense of melancholy.

A collector who treasured swords that could slay evil spirits had himself turned into an evil spirit. If Tang Ze hadn't intervened, he would have truly been slain by the warrior.

Putting the folding fan away, Tang Ze used the exquisite fan to press against Maru Denjirou's forehead.

"Remember the pain of having your treasures plundered," Tang Ze said, looking at his tear-streaked face and curling his lip. "Repent for your actions, Mr. Maru."

The aged Maru Denjirou stared blankly at the folding fan in his hand, then sighed and knelt, lowering his head.

The Shadow dissipated into a beam of light. Tang Ze tucked the fan into his back waistband, pushed off the ground, and sprinted, dodging the collapsing doors and windows behind him.

The master of the Palace had lost his twisted desires, and the Palace was about to collapse.

"I still got a bit injured. I wonder if a healing skill would work," Tang Ze mused to himself as he raced the collapsing building behind him, summarizing his experience. "One mask isn't enough. I'm fighting alone, and I don't know if I'll have teammates in the future..."

I still need to work harder. Tang Ze narrowly escaped the Maru residence, telling himself that at least in the Cognitive World, he needed a mode of transportation.

You look so cool when you're fighting, but you look so pathetic when you're running away!

After a quick heart-stealing adventure, Tang Ze returned to the Polo Cafe before lunchtime.

Tang Ze's experiment confirmed that healing skills could indeed restore physical condition, but only within the Cognitive World. If he didn't fully heal himself before leaving, he would have to carry the injuries out.

Even if he entered the Cognitive World again to heal later, the wounds couldn't be directly eliminated.

Fortunately, his injuries this time were mainly physical. The only visible part was a small cut on his face, which wouldn't raise any questions.

Tang Ze buttoned up his inner shirt to the top, ensuring the bruises on his chest wouldn't be discovered, before pushing open the door and returning to the cafe.

As soon as he entered, he saw Tooru Amuro washing dishes with a grim expression. Although his face wasn't overtly angry, the squeaking sound of the plates he was scrubbing was practically murderous.

"Mr. Amuro?" Tang Ze whispered, "This plate is already clean."

Tooru Amuro snapped back to attention, looked at the gleaming plate in his hand, and clicked his tongue before hanging it on the rack.

"Are you in a bad mood? Did something happen?" Tang Ze sat down at a stool by the bar.

In the manga, he would probably have a cluster of effect lines behind him right now, with black energy spewing out.

Tooru Amuro, however, answered his question with a question: "Where did you go this morning?"

Tang Ze chuckled dryly, "Ahaha, I just went for a walk. Why the sudden question?"

Oh dear, what happened? No way, no way, someone got exposed right after their first heists, right?

"Haven't you encountered any trouble these past two days?" Tooru Amuro's gaze was piercing, scanning Tang Ze like an X-ray. "Did you run into anyone strange on the way?"

Trouble? Does Suwa Yuji, who almost killed someone, count? Does secretly photocopying a bunch of small cards and hiring delinquents to distribute them count?

Unsure if Tooru Amuro had discovered a flaw or was hinting at something else, Tang Ze didn't dare to answer immediately.

Suddenly, Tooru Amuro's eyes widened, and he stepped closer, pinching Tang Ze's cheek.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch—" The unhealed scratch hurt like a needle prick when Tooru Amuro pulled it. Tang Ze quickly dodged his hand.

Tooru Amuro was furious that the minor he was watching had gotten hurt right under his nose. "How did you get that wound? Were you being followed?"

Tang Ze blinked, trying to figure out why Tooru Amuro was angry, and answered vaguely, "It's just... a normal scratch... nothing happened..."

Tooru Amuro wasn't convinced. He reached out and pulled at Tang Ze's tightly buttoned shirt collar. "Still not telling the truth? Your shirt wasn't buttoned this high when you left this morning."

Tang Ze had quite a few bruises from being hit by the giant spider. The samurai swords were painful, each hit dealing 25 damage, which translated to a long streak of purple bruises on his chest, extending to his collarbone. The bruises were almost turning black.

When Tooru Amuro pulled, the bruise was exposed.

"Attacked?" Tooru Amuro crossed his arms, wearing an displeased expression that said, "Keep going, I'm listening."

"Not really..." Tang Ze tidied his collar and then realized, "Left this morning? Weren't you not working yet when I left this morning, Mr. Amuro? How do you know my shirt wasn't buttoned up?"

"I arrived right after you left. Then I saw someone sneakily following you. They didn't look like a good person, so I wanted to follow them and see what they were up to," Tooru Amuro said without hesitation, reversing the order of events and framing his own stalking as an action taken out of concern for the minor. "Turns out, you were consciously trying to shake them off."

Tang Ze blinked twice.

Huh? Someone's tailing me? And I lost them?

Could it be that Amuro Tooru was following me, then someone else started following me, and I dodged into the Cognitive World with a feint, causing the two followers to collide?

Tang Ze, who had guessed about eighty percent of the truth, breathed a slight sigh of relief.

It's not about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts? That's good.

Following Amuro Tooru's line of thought, Tang Ze began to explain, "Someone has indeed been following me for two or three days, perhaps since the day I arrived in Tokyo. I don't know who they're from."

Adopting a grave expression, Tang Ze decisively threw the blame outward.

For the current Tang Ze Zhao, whether it was retaliation from the higher-ups who framed him, surveillance by the Organization, or an attempt by other forces, it was all within the realm of possibility.

To whoever's followers you are, I apologize. I'll leave the blame for injuring a minor to you!