Jiu De Mai

Lu Mingfei rubbed his face. "As long as you're okay, Little Goddess. But your clothes are so dirty. Are you sure you can go home like that?"

"Come on!" Su Xiaoqiang said unconcernedly. "I'll just tell them it was too dark to see where I was going and I took a fall."

Little Goddess was as carefree as ever.

"Oh, and don't tell anyone I cried today, or else—you know what'll happen!" Su Xiaoqiang threatened, holding up her right hand like a blade.

Lu Mingfei nodded vigorously.

"Then in exchange, don't tell anyone about my business either."

"You mean your superpowers?"

Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "Calling them superpowers isn't wrong."

"Are all you superpowered people who silently protect the world this low-key?" Su Xiaoqiang asked, tilting her head.

Lu Mingfei fell silent for a moment, then said solemnly, "That's right. To prevent the world from being destroyed and protect its peace, people with superpowers like us have always kept a low profile!"

"Pfft!" Su Xiaoqiang couldn't help laughing. Lu Mingfei was still the same as ever, always delivering his ridiculous jokes with a perfectly straight face.

"So, what happened tonight is a secret between the two of us. Don't tell anyone. I should head home. If I get back this late, Auntie will probably yell my head off."

Lu Mingfei waved to Su Xiaoqiang and said goodbye.

"Yeah. It's a secret between the two of us."

Su Xiaoqiang watched Lu Mingfei's departing figure and spoke softly.

"Damn it, I forgot to buy salt!" Lu Mingfei's voice carried from far away.

Even though something terrifying had happened tonight, Su Xiaoqiang didn't feel weighed down at all.

Hoping Auntie wasn't in the living room, Lu Mingfei reached the door and slowly opened it. Seeing no one inside, he let out a relieved breath.

When he went into his room, he saw his younger cousin, Lu Mingze, slumped over the desk, staring blankly at the old laptop.

Every so often, Lu Mingze let out a sigh.

It seemed the pain of "Scar of the Sunset" moving away wouldn't heal anytime soon.

Late that night, Lu Mingfei lay in bed thinking about what had happened. The world had started to feel unfamiliar. He had thought it was ordinary, but it too held supernatural powers.

Running into Su Xiaoqiang had been an accident. He had been walking home from the internet café when he heard a girl calling for help.

As soon as he heard her cry, he ran over. When he arrived, he saw a scaly, strange man reaching for Su Xiaoqiang. The man's presence was chaotic, and he could feel the deep malice radiating from him.

He had acted without hesitation, drawing his Zanpakuto and cutting off the man's hand.

Wait—the hand! Lu Mingfei abruptly sat up. He had blasted the monster's body away, but its hand had been left behind. Damn it, how could I make such a rookie mistake? Ever since I came back to this world, I've let my guard down. I've gotten far too careless.

Lu Mingze was fast asleep nearby. Lu Mingfei got up, got dressed, and quietly slipped out.

Avoiding the surveillance cameras along the way, he quickly made it back to the scene. He inspected the ground carefully, but found no arm—or even a drop of blood.

Someone had clearly cleaned up the traces. Could this be the work of some hidden force in this world?

After all, he had lived in this city for so many years, and this was the first time he'd encountered anything like this. Maybe people specially assigned to deal with these abnormalities had always been taking care of them.

If someone had gone to the trouble of cleaning up, that meant they didn't want ordinary people to know about this kind of thing.

As long as no one finds out I killed that monster, it'll be fine, Lu Mingfei thought.

"Ugh, I've barely gotten back and already run into this mess. What a pain."

Lu Mingfei retraced his steps.

"Hey, hey, potato chips. Little White Rabbit's gone."

Jiu De Mai lay in the shadows in the distance, watching the place where Lu Mingfei had just been through a pair of binoculars.

She was a young woman with long black hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a light wash of reddish eyeshadow, and a bright red ribbon was tied around her high bun. Most striking were her incredible figure and long, shapely legs. Once people saw her, they found it hard to forget her figure.

Jiu De Mai's Spirit Word was No. 69, Underworld Reflection. Its user could create a small field centered on herself, rendering anyone inside invisible and difficult to observe.

"The boss had us lure away the people from Kassel College who were watching Little White Rabbit, then lead him to that Dead Servant. She said Little White Rabbit might have awakened, so we should keep an eye on him. I didn't expect we'd get to see something so spectacular."

At a hotel, Su Enxi, wearing a bathrobe, munched on potato chips as she watched the screen in front of her and grumbled to Jiu De Mai.

"Little White Rabbit's terrifying. That Dead Servant was almost A-Rank by the usual standards, right? His fighting ability was pretty rough, but his physical strength was impressive. Long Legs, can you tell what kind of power he was using?"

"Not at all. Those six beams of light and that insanely flashy shock wave—there's no way to tell what kind of Spirit Word they were." Jiu De Mai stood up and watched in the direction Lu Mingfei had gone, shaking her head.

"And you could tell from the way he drew his blade that his swordsmanship was strong. He didn't look like a beginner. He must have been hiding his abilities all these years."

"If Kassel College found out Little White Rabbit had been hiding this for so long, wouldn't they feel like they'd been blind all these years? Crunch."

Su Enxi munched on potato chips with her legs crossed. Her smooth, delicate calves were bare in the air.

"All right, Long Legs, your mission's complete. You can come back now."

"Eat, eat, eat. All you ever do is eat potato chips. No wonder you've got so much meat on you," Jiu De Mai teased.

"Hmph, I'm actually in pretty good shape. I just can't compare to you, Long Legs. The next mission's in England. Someone over there wants to take some of our investments. Go cut them down for me." Su Enxi raised her clenched right fist high.

"Ugh, I really am everybody's babysitter. I just finished cleaning up after Little White Rabbit left a mess, and now there's another job. Would it kill you to let me rest for a while? And where's Sanwu? Why not send her?"

Jiu De Mai put one hand on her hip and protested into her earpiece.

Su Enxi giggled. "Sanwu has another mission. Don't worry. After this one, I'll give you a nice long vacation."

Jiu De Mai sighed. Then she suddenly remembered something and asked, "What about that girl, Su Xiaoqiang? Is it really okay to let an ordinary person know about the Dragon race?"

"She's Little White Rabbit's friend. Judging by how he blasted that thing to pieces, he won't let her go around talking about it. Besides, the boss said not to interfere with his decisions. Anyway, I've already booked your ticket. Your flight's tomorrow at noon. Get some rest, then head over." Su Enxi worked at her computer with both hands.

The two ended the call.

Su Xiaoqiang lay in the soft bed at home, her mind full of the image of Lu Mingfei standing in front of her with his blade drawn.

"Ahhh! I can't keep thinking about this!"

Wrapped in her blanket, Su Xiaoqiang rolled back and forth across the bed.