Rain Crow and Zero, Top-Secret Meeting

The metal doors of the lounge stood open, and Rain Crow stepped out. His pitch-black cloak trailed across the silver-white floor like a raven's tail.

He entered the elevator, lowered his head, and waited quietly. Before long, he arrived on the thirty-fifth floor of Hero Corporation.

The Hero Control Bureau had originally been established to supervise superheroes and prevent them from breaking the law. When necessary, it would dispatch "enforcers" to punish out-of-control superheroes.

Beyond that, the Bureau had another hidden task: eliminating mythical vessels around the world...

Once mythical vessels advanced to a certain level, they would inevitably lose control. To the authorities, they were disasters that would inevitably arrive and could not be ignored.

Yet the most ironic part was that long before the Bureau recognized the danger posed by mythical vessels, the Superhero Round Table had already recruited two of them.

One was Zeus, ranked No. 1 among heroes. The other was Nidhogg, ranked No. 4.

Thus, the Bureau had no choice but to conceal its other mission from the public while constantly monitoring these two Round Table Heroes. The moment either mythical vessel of the Round Table Society lost control, they would be executed immediately.

The person Rain Crow was here to meet came from the Bureau. Her codename consisted of a single word: Zero.

Within less than three years of joining the Hero Control Bureau, Zero had become one of its S-rank enforcers. By now, she was the most outstanding figure in the entire Bureau.

Since the other party had requested a meeting, even Rain Crow, as one of the Round Table Heroes, had no choice but to attend.

Before long, the elevator arrived at the thirty-fifth floor of Hero Corporation.

Rain Crow walked down the metal corridor for a while before the doors ahead slowly opened. He entered and saw a brightly lit conference room.

At that moment, a girl in a black bodysuit sat in a swivel chair, quietly watching the projected footage.

Zero had a straight nose, a cold and indifferent bearing, and pale skin. She looked like a Nordic girl, though her features had not fully matured. But that might have merely been an illusion created by a human-face mask.

Rain Crow had also heard that this enforcer usually wore a black bodysuit, two layers of human-face masks, and an inbuilt voice changer when speaking. Seeing her today, he learned the rumors were true.

The metal doors behind him slowly closed. Zero raised her head, glanced at him, and got straight to the point.

"This meeting will not take much of your time. Please look at the screen."

Rain Crow fell silent for a moment, then slowly turned his gaze toward the projection screen at the end of the conference room. It showed a silver-white room, with a man tied to a chair and a woman dressed in a black bodysuit.

The girl in the bodysuit was still Zero, but she wore another human-face mask. She looked like a sweet Japanese girl, with arched brows and a delicate little nose.

"Players?" Zero asked.

"Yes... We have to Exterminate Superhumans within half a year," the man in the chair rasped. "Otherwise, the system will erase us..."

Zero was silent for a moment. "You and your accomplices killed a Super-species citizen judged to be 'harmless.' That person had never committed any crime. This was blatant criminal behavior."

The man lowered his head and spoke dejectedly. "None of us wanted to die, so we did that."

Zero considered it. "My people were unable to detect any 'Super-species genes' in you, including the genes of magical girls, mutants, mythical vessels, ability users, and other Super-species. But... please demonstrate your ability."

At that moment, a staff member wearing a Bureau uniform walked over and untied the man's right hand.

The man hesitated for a moment, then suddenly raised his right hand. With a roar, he pointed his index finger at Zero and snapped.

With a sharp snap, an air bullet burst from his fingertip. The invisible but deadly bullet cut through the air, flying straight toward Zero's forehead.

Zero remained expressionless.

The air before her suddenly froze solid. A layer of ice spread out and stopped the invisible bullet. The bullet only left an almost imperceptible dent in the ice.

Ice manipulation—the ability of this S-rank enforcer, Rain Crow thought. With such an outstanding ability, it was no surprise she had risen so smoothly within the Bureau.

"What else?" Zero asked in the footage.

"That's all, that's all... I only bought this skill," the man said tremblingly.

The staff member smiled and tied his right hand up again.

"Your companions have already been taken away by our people for dissection and research. If you do not want the same treatment, then honestly tell us everything you know," Zero said coldly.

Over the following period, the man revealed a great deal of information, including the number of Players, the skill shop, weekly missions, and, most importantly, Player IDs.

At that point, the projection screen stopped playing.

"According to our observations, Players can see markers above other Players' heads," Zero said expressionlessly. "This is the most direct way for them to identify one another."

"A hundred people think they can Exterminate Superhumans?" Rain Crow said calmly. "This is no longer ignorance and arrogance. It is simply stupidity..."

"Of course. Our people think so as well," Zero said lightly. "But since this is a new kind of Super-species, and there is more than one case, we must take it seriously and prevent the disasters it may cause in the future. That is the work of the Hero Control Bureau."

She paused. "They may only be insects at this stage, but that does not mean they will not grow into giant beasts later."

"Then... what do you need me to do?" Rain Crow asked in a low voice.

"I will be staying in Dawn Capital for some time. Every employee entering Hero Corporation must undergo my inspection," Zero said. "I must ensure that the superhero company has not been infiltrated by Players."

"That certainly sounds exhausting," Rain Crow said mockingly.

Zero considered it. "Rather than worry about me, Mr. Rain Crow should be more careful himself." As she spoke, she raised her eyes and looked directly at Rain Crow. "Perhaps some people by your side, people you spend every day with, have already been replaced by Players."

Rain Crow said nothing. He frowned slightly, his gaze sharp as fire.

"That concludes tonight's meeting."

Zero spoke expressionlessly, rose from her swivel chair, and walked toward the exit.

Rain Crow suddenly said, "Do Bureau agents also collude with unregistered heroes, even criminals?"

Zero stopped and turned her head to look at him in confusion.

"Owl Judge," Rain Crow said slowly. "The staff member who worked with you in that footage perfectly matched Owl Judge, whether in his movements or demeanor. Of course, I do not believe that was Owl Judge's true face. Clearly, like you, he was wearing a human-face mask."

He paused. "Do you intend to deny it?"

Zero was silent for a moment. "Mr. Rain Crow truly notices every detail. I hope you will also apply that same observational skill to the people around you."

With that, she turned and left the conference room.

Rain Crow silently watched her receding figure.

Before long, Enforcer Zero took the elevator to the visitors' lounge on the seventieth floor of Hero Corporation.

She inserted her ID card into the slot, and the doors before her slowly opened. Zero entered the lounge, used a pen-shaped detector to confirm there were no surveillance devices, then removed the human-face mask from her face.

Xia Lingxue let out a soft breath. Her medium-length black hair fell loose, draping over her shoulders.

She took out her phone and made a video call. A delicate yet handsome face appeared on the screen.

"Rain Crow recognized that the staff member in the video was you," she said.

Ke Linye tilted his head. "Oh? Then isn't that bad? It's all because I didn't act seriously enough."

"If only your acting outside were half as good as it is at home," Xia Lingxue said coldly.

"Home is different." Ke Linye smiled. "So, what did Rain Crow say?"

"He had no intention of pursuing it," Xia Lingxue said expressionlessly. "Otherwise, if the Hero Control Bureau asks about the relationship between you and me, I will have some trouble ahead."

"Isn't that great? I knew he would not make things difficult for a little girl." Ke Linye said teasingly. "Or maybe he thinks fairly highly of me and does not see me as a criminal in the fullest sense, even though I have killed quite a few superheroes."

"Call me little girl again, and I'll kill you," Xia Lingxue said word by word.

"It's getting late. Good night."

Ke Linye smiled dismissively and waved.

Xia Lingxue ended the video call. She tore open a lollipop wrapper, put it in her mouth, then walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the brightly lit Dawn Capital.

"It's about time to go home," she murmured. "Hopefully, a few maggots have not crawled into the house."