Triggered

At Gu Yanzhi's answer, Charles's expression froze. He tilted his head as though he hadn't heard properly and forced a sound from his throat. "Huh? What was that?"

Thinking he hadn't heard clearly, Gu Yanzhi spread his hands and casually repeated himself. "My tastes are pretty niche. I like Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen."

The moment he finished speaking, Charles's expression went from confusion to shock to fury in the space of a few frames.

He violently flipped the tabletop with one hand. The coffee cups shattered into porcelain shards on the floor, cold coffee splashed everywhere, and he kicked the table flying.

A massive Paintbrush Cursed Tool appeared in his hand. Its shaft was as thick as an arm, and its tip gleamed with icy blue cursed energy as he thrust it straight at Gu Yanzhi.

Caught off guard, Gu Yanzhi had no time to draw his blade. He could only hurriedly gather cursed energy in both hands to block. The brush tip struck his cursed energy shield with a shrill metallic clang, and the impact blasted him out of the café.

His back hit the sidewalk, and he skidded several meters before stopping, covered in broken glass and dust. Shaking out his numb arms, he looked up at Charles, who was slowly emerging from the café, his mind full of questions. What the hell was this guy playing at?

Charles stepped through the shattered doorway, his curly hair slightly tousled by the wind. The setting sun reflected in his glasses, and there were even faint tears in the corners of his eyes. His voice carried the pain of betrayal.

"Gege Akutami? Jujutsu Kaisen? What kind of hack writer is that?! What kind of amateur garbage?! Your favorite work isn't The Unfinished Canvas-you're no best friend of mine!" (The work mentioned here is purely a joke. Its title was generated with Doubao, and it doesn't exist in real life. This isn't meant to start a fandom war; it's just a joke.)

Gu Yanzhi stared in disbelief, his mouth opening and closing.

He thought back over their conversation. He had only said that his favorite manga was Jujutsu Kaisen. How had that set the guy off like a land mine?

This guy's obsession with manga ran way too deep. Somehow, he had even found himself a reason to fight.

Gu Yanzhi pushed himself up and brushed the dust off his clothes. He mentally went through this baffling turn of events from beginning to end and reached a conclusion.

The guy had been triggered, a bit like Todo. Gu Yanzhi hadn't paid much attention to this character before and had never expected him to have this side.

Charles walked slowly toward him, twirling the Paintbrush Cursed Tool once before resting its tip against the ground. His tone had regained its composure.

"I already landed my cursed technique on you just now."

He paused, then openly revealed his cursed technique. Its core ability was to predict the future by drawing "panels." The panels he created could manifest physically and automatically track and attack his opponent. Put simply, as long as his opponent made a move within his field of vision, he could draw that scene into a panel beforehand and predict their movements, giving him an absolute advantage in a head-on fight.

Gu Yanzhi's brow furrowed deeper and deeper, and an inexplicable anger rose inside him.

Hadn't this guy been planning to sucker punch me from the start? He said there was "no reason to fight," yet the second he heard that we didn't like the same manga, he immediately found a "reason to fight"?

What kind of bullshit logic was that? And he'd even gone ahead and landed his cursed technique on me. Damn it.

But he really didn't want this fight.

Although he had moved some distance away from where the lightning had flashed earlier, if he revealed too much cursed energy output in battle, that Kashimo guy might notice his unusually large reserves and come looking for a fight.

Cursed energy reserves on Kurourushi's level would absolutely stand out in this barrier. Once released, they could be sensed from several blocks away. He didn't want Hajime Kashimo targeting him right after he had gotten his number.

What a headache.

He drew the blade at his waist, coating it in deep blue cursed energy. Its edge took on a cold sheen in the twilight. It looked like he would have to finish this quickly and teach this guy a proper lesson for turning hostile over a difference in manga taste.

Charles suddenly froze, as though he had seen something-his panel-based precognition had activated.

His pupils contracted slightly, and his body reacted before his brain did, hastily dodging to the side.

At the very instant he shifted aside, Gu Yanzhi appeared right where he had been standing and slashed down. The blade grazed Charles's sleeve, severing a few fluttering threads.

Charles steadied himself, marveling inwardly. This guy was fast. The speed and power of that slash had far exceeded his expectations. Without the panel's advance warning, he would already have been hit.

Gu Yanzhi drew his blade back, turned, and smiled faintly. Charles's future-predicting cursed technique really was somewhat troublesome.

Still, it was fine. Kinji Hakari had already provided the solution in the original story: attack from his blind spot.

Charles's panel-based precognition depended on his field of vision. Only scenes he could see could be drawn into panels. If an attack came from outside his line of sight, the panels couldn't predict it. Kinji Hakari had seen through precisely this weakness and attacked from his blind spots, overcoming his cursed technique.

Gu Yanzhi vanished again.

Rather than clash with him head-on, he began circling Charles, his steps light and nimble as he maintained his high speed.

His figure flickered in and out among the ruins. Every time he appeared at the edge of Charles's peripheral vision, he lingered for only an instant before darting into the next blind spot.

Charles kept adjusting his position in the center, trying to bring Gu Yanzhi into his direct line of sight, but his opponent remained just beyond the boundaries of his vision.

In a flash, Gu Yanzhi struck. He appeared behind Charles and brought his blade straight down.

But Charles noticed immediately. He had guessed that Gu Yanzhi had discovered his cursed technique's weakness and had been guarding his blind spots ever since.

The moment the blade came at him, he quickly shifted his position and barely twisted out of the way. The edge grazed his clothes again. He took a breath, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. As long as I keep adjusting my angle and stop him from getting completely into my blind spot, I can hold out until the next panel prediction activates-

Gu Yanzhi smiled faintly. A golden barrier resembling a Simple Domain slowly rose around him, its walls of light covering his entire body like a thin veil, intricate Sanskrit patterns flowing across them-an improved Hollow Wicker Basket. Gu Yanzhi stood with his blade in hand, the deep blue cursed energy along its edge gleaming coldly in the golden barrier's light.

"Let's see how you dodge this."

The back of Gu Yanzhi's blade struck Charles hard on the nape, knocking him unconscious.

After swinging his blade through the air a few more times, Gu Yanzhi realized that the body's original owner had only successfully improved Hollow Wicker Basket in his twilight years and had yet to fully refine its functions.

That was why he had only now discovered that the improved Hollow Wicker Basket couldn't accelerate his slashes. His understanding of Simple Domain had prejudiced him into assuming that his attacks would come with the same automatic attack rules as Kusakabe's. In reality, the blow had landed simply because Gu Yanzhi was strong, and Charles couldn't dodge as fast as Gu Yanzhi could swing his blade.

Glancing at the unconscious Charles on the ground, Gu Yanzhi sighed and hoisted him onto his shoulder. He had no intention of killing him.

First, he didn't want to earn any points. Second, having Charles nearby might increase his chances of meeting Kinji Hakari.

Carrying Charles, Gu Yanzhi headed back toward the café. But suddenly, thunder erupted, and a figure descended from the sky, blasting the café in front of him to pieces.

From the café's ruins, a figure who gave Gu Yanzhi an even bigger headache slowly emerged.

"Dump that useless bastard."

"And keep dancing for me!"