What Are You Afraid Of?

Jingzhe no longer doubted the shrine maiden.

Those who took in the Infected, those who treated the Infected with kindness, always possessed moral standards different from ordinary people.

They were all unconventional saints.

Jingzhe herself belonged to the kind of person who felt nothing toward the Infected. She was careful not to become infected herself, but she did not look at them through tinted glasses while working.

Jingzhe felt that was far from discrimination.

As she walked down the mountain, someone fairly familiar approached her. Blue hair, red eyes, dragon horns atop her head, both hands tucked into her coat pockets. After a moment's recollection, Jingzhe remembered that face. When she had stood awkwardly in the street, this was the person who had shouted curses from the rooftop.

"Talk less, do more. Calm your mind and cultivate your spirit."

"What did you say?"

Constable Ch'en turned back in confusion, but Jingzhe did not pause in the slightest. She strode away, leaving Ch'en with nothing but her retreating figure.

What a strange person.

Constable Ch'en passed through the vermilion torii. She had intended to head straight up to the Tenshukaku where the shrine maiden was, but after thinking it over carefully, she looked behind her again. She could not shake the feeling that the woman's words carried a deeper meaning. This was Yae Shrine territory, and every time Ch'en came here, she encountered something terrifying.

Could that woman just now have been one of the shrine maiden's subordinates?

Constable Ch'en felt a little nervous.

That anxiety was entirely due to the psychological shadow Gyakushinn Miko had left on her earlier.

As long as she was at Yae Shrine, she had never run into a single good thing. Ch'en had always been a particularly meticulous thinker. Whenever something like this happened, she would carefully deliberate over it in her heart and reach a rigorous conclusion.

Talk less, do more.

Was that something one of the shrine maidens had wanted to convey to her through someone else?

Meaning unclear, daze~

Though she did not understand, Constable Ch'en still became more cautious. Her steps unconsciously slowed as she mentally reviewed the questions she wanted to ask.

Who exactly was that hooded person who walked amid the rumble of lightning?

Had she committed any crimes?

Should she arrest her?

Jingzhe paused with every step, moving slowly.

She felt she had overreacted somewhat. As an official of Dali Temple, she did have the authority to criticize the Lungmen Guard Department for handling matters poorly. But this was her time off, and Jingzhe had not registered with the Guard Department in an official capacity, so her confidence was clearly lacking.

What was there to fear?

Jingzhe reminded herself of that.

Even an ordinary person living in Lungmen should promptly report any mistakes they discovered to the Lungmen Guard Department, lest they become complacent and fail to improve.

This was not a lecture.

It was extremely serious advice.

Jingzhe finally put her mind at ease and quickened her pace, covering three steps in two as she reached the foot of the mountain. Then she suddenly caught a strange foul smell.

She frowned.

Jingzhe was not unfamiliar with that smell at all.

When high-voltage electricity struck the air, oxygen ionized into pungent, strongly oxidizing ozone, which was why it smelled foul. Jingzhe did not know all that, but she knew what the scent represented. It was likely a powerful lightning strike in the making.

Who would use lightning like that?

She was the first to rule herself out.

She turned back to look. A layer of dark clouds shrouded the skies above Yae Shrine, lightning brewing in the darkness in an elegant pale violet.

Rumble!

The world before her eyes instantly became a flickering alternation of black and white.

In that situation, Jingzhe instinctively wanted to flee.

After taking only a few steps, she suddenly sighed and turned around, striding resolutely toward the mountaintop. Constable Ch'en had just gone up there. In Jingzhe's eyes, Ch'en was hot-tempered and easily angered. If she encountered a sensitive and delicate lightning-type Infected, trouble could easily arise.

Chen Huijie was a senior constable of Lungmen.

Jingzhe could not simply ignore it.

With that mindset, she set foot in the Tenshukaku for the third time. Strangely enough, by the time she reached the summit, the lightning filling the sky had already dispersed.

"What happened this time?"

This time, she was certain the shrine maiden was here before she dared to speak loudly.

"Shh—"

Jingzhe heard a hush.

She saw the shrine maiden, along with Constable Ch'en lying across the shrine maiden's lap. The scent of ozone still permeated the air, yet the scene was indescribably peaceful. Ch'en even wrinkled her nose, as though she had not slept soundly in a very long time.

"What is going on this time?"

Jingzhe unconsciously lowered her voice as well, having no idea what had happened.

"She wanted to see the Queen of Lightning, but you know her personality. One side was soft, the other hard. The hard side provoked the soft side, and then, crack... she got struck by lightning. I really couldn't stop her... and then it ended up like this."

"Ah, I see."

Jingzhe felt that this did indeed suit Chen Huijie's character.

Yet as the scent of ozone filled her nose, she could not sense the slightest charge moving within the Tenshukaku. In fact, aside from the three people present, Jingzhe could not even smell anyone else.

Could her intuition have been wrong?

She asked, "May I ask where that lady is now? Since she attacked Constable Ch'en, she should still be here, shouldn't she?"

Hoshino calmly pointed behind the folding screen.

It was an impenetrable screen set in a corner of the Tenshukaku. Through its heavy fabric, Jingzhe could not discern anything behind it—not even a silhouette.

She slowly approached the screen.

The shrine maiden was right behind her, her heartbeat gentle and entirely without panic. She was definitely not lying.

Could it be...

Her hand had already touched the fabric of the screen, but she suddenly stopped.

Was it the fear rising from within her heart that instinctively made her unwilling to sense that person's presence? Had that desire overflowed from the depths of her heart and directly affected her actions and perceptions?

She looked back again.

The shrine maiden still had her head lowered, carefully studying the sleeping Constable Ch'en. She did not seem to regard anything happening here as a serious matter.

Crackle!

Jingzhe looked down. A spark of electricity stung her finger.

Jingzhe reacted instantly. It was merely a tiny bit of static electricity, yet her arm moved before her mind could, recoiling from the screen.

"So I really am afraid."

Jingzhe muttered to herself.

She turned around and stared at the shrine maiden kneeling on a cushion. Hoshino also lifted her head and met Jingzhe's gaze.

That was close.

If Jingzhe had pushed aside the screen and discovered there was nothing behind it, that would have been troublesome.

Fortunately, Jingzhe's actions had all been within Hoshino's calculations. Jingzhe had been instantly defeated by overwhelming power, and it had even been the lightning arts she took such pride in. There was no way she could accept that. Yet if she had returned without a second thought, that would not have suited Jingzhe's meticulous personality.

"You did the right thing. Her emotions are rather unstable."

Hoshino spoke in a mysterious tone.

"I hope you can keep her under control. Today, I witnessed lightning arts several times stronger than my own, so I have gained quite a lot."

"Farewell."

Hoshino waved, then hurriedly said, "Please don't come back again, either."

Watching Jingzhe leave, she lowered her head and looked at the sleeping Constable Ch'en. Reaching out, she helped shape a faint smile on Ch'en's face.

Even in her sleep, Ch'en's brows remained slightly furrowed.