Deathbird, Pope, Bandage Man

The café was bathed in warm orange ambient light, jazz music flowed like water through every corner, and the wind chime on the wooden door swayed in the hot summer breeze.

"If I'm lucky, I should catch Jiang Qingzi meeting with the other members of Deathbird."

Ke Mingqing sipped coconut coffee through a straw while turning his head and secretly observing the street outside from the corner of his eye.

The commercial street had a semi-enclosed dome, but the summer sunlight was so bright and fierce that even the streetlights looked dim. The crowds bustled as the traffic lights kept changing. Once Jiang Qingzi crossed the intersection, his back disappeared from view.

The signal turned green, and the torrent of cars rushing along the road blocked Ke Mingqing's line of sight.

So he withdrew his gaze and blinked lightly.

"Theater Puppet."

After silently chanting the name in his heart, a pale white puppet instantly formed in the alley to the right of the café.

White Jack stepped onto the railing around an air-conditioning unit and lightly leaped upward, arriving atop a commercial building. Above him was clear sky, with sunlight spread out overhead.

The puppet leaned forward slightly in the hot afternoon wind, gripping a GG sign as he stretched his body outward. He narrowed his hollow eyes and gazed at a tiny figure in the distance.

Jiang Qingzi's back quickly melted into the crowd. Even with exceptional dynamic vision, it was impossible to keep tracking someone's position under these circumstances.

So White Jack put on his tracking sunglasses, and a red dot blinked on the map.

He leaped across the rooftops of one high-rise after another, vaulting over GG billboards and occasionally brushing past workers on elevated platforms.

White Jack always kept fifty meters away from Jiang Qingzi, either hiding behind railings or behind massive GG signs, doing his best not to expose himself to the sunlight.

Once the other party had gone farther away, he would follow again using the location indicator on the sunglasses' map.

After all, Jiang Qingzi was an A-rank superhuman. If he got too close, the puppet would immediately be discovered.

Along the way, Jiang Qingzi entered an old book market. He sat down and read for a while, paid the owner a few coins for a book, then slowly left the market.

The route he took became increasingly secluded, with fewer and fewer people around. The buildings Theater Puppet climbed changed from towers into rows of flat, low houses.

Ke Mingqing suspected that his puppet had already been discovered, and that Jiang Qingzi was looking for somewhere remote to kill him.

But he could only have White Jack keep following. After all, Jiang Qingzi might also be going to meet the other members of Deathbird.

Following him like this, White Jack arrived atop an abandoned building in a remote area. At that moment, Jiang Qingzi was inside the abandoned building across from him.

White Jack looked through a shattered window. Besides Jiang Qingzi, there were two other figures inside.

One wore a black clerical robe and a black round hat. His gaze was unfathomable, his skin pale, and his gray-blue eyes were quietly fixed on a black book.

[Codename: "Pope"]

[Type: Esper]

[Danger Rating: A++]

[Superhuman Profile: The leader of the thief organization "Deathbird." Born in an Italian slum, he later killed and replaced the Pope during his youth. After that, he began calling himself "Pope"—committing madman's deeds in the name of God was this man's defining trait.

His ability manifested as a Bible containing a variety of special powers.]

Pope sat in a corner of the ruins. Beside him was a black bandage, attached to the ceiling above and to an upside-down human figure below.

White Jack looked at the upside-down figure.

The person was wrapped entirely in pitch-black bandages, like a black mummy. He looked rather eerie.

[Codename: "Bandage Man"]

[Type: Esper]

[Danger Rating: B++]

[Superhuman Profile: One of the members of the thief organization "Deathbird." He was an orphan born in a hospital, surrounded by bandages every day, and gradually awakened his ability later on.

His ability was to control black bandages and use them to fight.]

Both of them were reading, though their postures and books differed: Pope sat quietly reading the Bible, while Bandage Man hung upside down reading a book called Shonen Jump.

They really are strong. Their leader's on the same level as my old man, Ke Mingqing thought.

"How is Stro?" Jiang Qingzi walked over and asked in a low voice.

"Unfortunately, before she could give up any information about us, she killed herself with poison hidden inside her body," Bandage Man said without looking back as he flipped through the comic.

"Poison?" Jiang Qingzi was confused.

"That's right." The bandaged weirdo hanging upside down in midair spoke slowly. "She controlled her blood and hid lethal poison inside a blood sac, then let the poison spread through her body when she needed it."

Jiang Qingzi sighed and lightly shook his head. "Why go that far? We could've just rescued her."

"That's hard to say. After all, the one who took her was Rain Crow. It would've been easier to handle if it were someone else." Bandage Man licked his black finger and turned another page of the comic.

Jiang Qingzi fell silent for a moment. "Then... what do you plan to do with the vampire girl who was following Stro?"

"There's nothing we can do." Bandage Man's voice was faint and ghostly. "Stro is already dead. We can't keep taking her with us forever."

"I can take her with me," Jiang Qingzi said.

Bandage Man closed the comic. Bandages extended from his fingertips and danced through the air like black snakes. He said:

"She'll be in danger following us. Either she gets us killed, or our enemies kill her. Understand?"

Jiang Qingzi said in a deep voice, "Wasn't I an orphan too? I don't want us to abandon Zi Ling."

"Magic Boy, you're too naive. Things aren't the same now. When the leader took you in, we were only just getting started. We didn't have so many enemies."

As Bandage Man spoke, he turned his head, his eyes hidden behind bandages staring at Jiang Qingzi.

As the two remained deadlocked, another clear, cool voice rang out through the ruins.

"It doesn't matter. We'll vote on it in a few days." Pope suddenly spoke, cutting off their conversation. His voice was deep, as calm as a lake.

As Pope's words fell, Jiang Qingzi and Bandage Man both fell silent.

They're so obedient. Looks like this Pope is their absolute leader.

As White Jack was thinking this, a chilly gust suddenly came from behind him, making his top hat sway slightly.

He turned around and saw a human figure emerging from the shadow behind him, like a fish leaping from a black lake.

Then the other party placed a katana against his neck.

"Don't move, or your head will be separated from your body," the person behind him said in a low voice. It was a clear female voice.

White Jack glanced from the corner of his eye. She was a black-haired girl. Her eyes were as black as the polar night, and she wore a black kimono. Her snow-white skin contrasted sharply with the color of her kimono.

[Codename: "Shadow Princess"]

[Type: Shadow Warrior]

[Danger Rating: B+]

[Superhuman Profile: During her childhood, "Shadow Princess" was once a member of a Japanese shadow warrior organization. After the shadow warrior organization was completely destroyed, she became the sole survivor and wandered from place to place. Later, she earned the favor of Deathbird's leader, "Pope," and joined Deathbird.]

"Can we calm down a little?" White Jack tilted his head and said evenly. "Comrade, at least wait until your leader gets here before killing me, right?"

"They're already here," Shadow Princess said coolly.

White Jack shifted his gaze from the corner of his eye and saw that the three figures who had been in the building next door a moment ago had already crossed through the window and entered this floor.

The three of them slowly walked over.

"I knew someone had been following me." Jiang Qingzi had his hands in his pockets, his expression cold. "Something felt off, so I had Shadow Princess search for them. Didn't expect a rat to be hiding here."

"You were too slow," Shadow Princess said expressionlessly.

"If it were me, I would've noticed him long ago," Bandage Man added.

Jiang Qingzi shrugged, seemingly too lazy to argue with them.

Pope closed the Bible and slowly raised his unfathomable eyes, staring directly into White Jack's. After a long moment, he spoke calmly.

"Then... who are you?"