Mask

"My name is Jia Yin Qin. I'm Chinese-American."

The Asian girl pronounced her name the English way, then seemed to realize that the pronunciation might be a little awkward for foreigners, so she added,

"If you find it hard to pronounce, you can just call me Qin."

"That's fine." Dilos smiled, then replied in Chinese, "I know your name is Qin Jiayin. You don't have to worry so much about the pronunciation."

"You speak Chinese?" Qin Jiayin stared at Dilos with her lovely eyes, disbelief in her gaze. She really hadn't expected to meet a foreigner who spoke Chinese—and judging by his accent, he spoke it with remarkable fluency and authenticity.

Only then did Dilos take a closer look at the girl. Although her face was a little pale, it did nothing to diminish her sweet demeanor. She wasn't a breathtaking beauty, but she was the kind of girl who grew more appealing the longer you looked at her.

Unlike many girls in China in his previous life, who dressed provocatively, flaunted their bodies at every opportunity, or showed off their entire thighs, she dressed neither immodestly nor conservatively. Her white, short-sleeved crew-neck blouse, black knee-length skirt, and brown ankle boots complemented her figure perfectly, giving her a lively, youthful air without compromising her modesty.

With her neat, shoulder-length black hair and sweet smile, everything about her gave off a charming, refined purity and a sunny warmth that made people instinctively want to be near her.

"Sorry, your accent almost made me think I'd run into someone from back home." Qin Jiayin smiled sheepishly. "You're amazing. I've never met anyone here who speaks Chinese so well."

Dilos just smiled and shrugged. After all, he'd lived in China for many years in his previous life. Speaking the language was as natural as breathing; there was nothing particularly amazing about it.

"My name's Dilos Sullivan. In English, it's pronounced Dealors Sullivan. You can call me Dilos or Dealors, as long as you don't call me 'Die-alot.'"

Dilos made a little joke at the end, making Qin Jiayin giggle. When she'd stopped laughing, she looked at him and said, "All right. But you can call me Jia Yin, too."

How to put it? Sometimes getting along with someone just came down to fate. The two of them struck up a conversation and hit it off so well that they even exchanged contact information before parting.

At Dilos's rental house.

Dilos thought back to what had happened earlier and couldn't help feeling amused. He hadn't expected to meet a pretty girl just by going out. He'd also realized that he was somewhat curious about Qin Jiayin. One of the main reasons, of course, was what the middle-aged man had shouted.

Although the man hadn't finished saying it before Dilos stopped him, Dilos could still guess what he'd been about to say.

Mutant.

Another reason was that, when the whole farce had started, Dilos had opened his mind-reading ability. He'd been able to sense everyone else's emotions, but not Qin Jiayin's. At the time, he'd instinctively stopped filtering out sounds and kept listening to her heartbeat.

So when the middle-aged man had nearly said the word, Dilos hadn't needed to turn around to hear Qin Jiayin's heartbeat suddenly quicken and her breathing grow more rapid. Given what had happened before, it was impossible not to become suspicious.

Whether she was actually a Mutant remained uncertain. After all, Mutants weren't the only ones with superpowers. There were also superhumans whose abilities came from other kinds of mutations, such as the people in Smallville who gained powers after being exposed to meteorites.

However curious he was, Dilos hadn't asked. He wasn't like those bizarre protagonists and supporting characters in certain weird American TV shows who were always trying to pry other people's special secrets out of them, then played at ending the friendship when the other person refused to share.

If she hadn't told him, that meant she didn't want to. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Dilos wouldn't ask.

Ding-dong~

As the doorbell rang, Dilos stood in front of the mirror and began to reshape his skin. The strange muscles in his face couldn't change shape as dramatically as those in his hands, but he could still distort his features slightly, making himself look like someone else for a short time.

Dilos grabbed a black wig from the table and put it on, then opened the door. A scruffy, unshaven deliveryman stood outside, holding a package even larger than his own mini-fridge.

"Is this Mr. Bruce?" the deliveryman asked instinctively, looking at the tall, middle-aged man with slightly rough skin. When Bruce nodded, he slowly lowered the heavy package to the floor.

"This is the package you ordered. Please sign here." As he spoke, he handed Bruce a pen...

Once the deliveryman had left, Dilos shut the door and changed back to his original appearance.

To be honest, his current age was a real inconvenience. There were many things he couldn't do because of it, so he needed a new identity to take care of other matters. He'd gone to considerable trouble to get a fake ID, then used his original face to end the lease on his old place before renting another one with his new appearance.

It was all for the sake of his plans.

Dilos opened the package, revealing a rather elegant-looking 3D printer.

The printer wasn't top of the line, but it was more than good enough for Dilos at this stage.

He connected it to his computer, got all the software and settings in order, and got to work.

After entering the blueprint data, he placed a small basket of materials he'd prepared earlier by the feed port and pressed the start button.

The noise from the 3D printer was rather annoying to Dilos, but seeing the object taking shape inside made him forget about that little irritation.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep.

When the printer chimed to indicate it had finished, Dilos took out the completed item.

It was a white mask shaped like a skull, except that the teeth in the mouth were as sharp as a demon's. The mask was an unnatural milky white, decorated with eerie patterns that made it look rather sinister and terrifying. To describe it more specifically, it looked just like the Hollow mask worn by the protagonist in the anime Bleach, which Dilos had watched in his previous life.

"In this world, having a mask of your own is essential."

A lot of the things Dilos planned to do couldn't be done in the open, so he had to hide his identity. That meant he needed to prepare for every eventuality.

And the mask was only the beginning.