August 10th, 3:00 AM Japan time, a corner of Tokyo City.
A giant statue dressed in a luxurious battle dress was shuttling through the night, holding a hooded teenager in her arms. The next moment, she stepped on a corner of a billboard, landing on the street. Before the pedestrians could react, she dodged the bustling streetlights and plunged into a manhole, descending into the sewers.
Once landed, the Queen’s Statue straightened up.
Looking ahead, she now stood on a passage lined on both sides of a purple-green "river," her hollow eye sockets emanating a cold blue flame floating like embers.
"This is the place?" Xia Pingzhou asked. He raised his arm, frowning and covering his nose.
Waste flowed quietly over the river, and the stench hit him like a wave, making his stomach churn.
In fact, Ji Minghuan’s compulsive cleanliness is quite severe. Just the sight of the sewer gave him the feeling of being suffocated by an encirclement of eighteen Catastrophe-level Superpower Users, not to mention the smell.
But luckily, he could adjust the sensitivity of his sense of smell in the system settings, turning it down to the lowest level. That way, at least he wouldn’t worry about being overwhelmed by the sewer smell.
The Queen’s Statue nodded and then lowered Xia Pingzhou from her shoulder.
Relying on the Queen’s Statue’s sense of smell, finding demons had become an easy task.
Xia Pingzhou always managed to nip the Tokyo Exorcist Association and capture all the demons appearing in the city.
As a result, without competitors, it was as if he had entirely monopolized the local demon production chain.
In these days, his efficiency in demon hunting in Tokyo even matched his efficiency in Venice, known as the city with the highest frequency of demon appearances.
Jack the Ripper lacked the Queen’s Statue’s sense of smell and was unwilling to compete with Xia Pingzhou for prey. In anticipation of the upcoming war with Lake Hunting in a month, she returned to Venice alone to focus on her cultivation.
With her talent and ability, she might become one of the top Catastrophe-level superpower users in just a month. Even so, Xia Pingzhou was convinced that once he ascended to the Catastrophe level, it would be nearly impossible for Jack the Ripper to defeat him.
Yet apart from Jack the Ripper leaving alone, Tong Zizhu and Ryukawa Chiba stayed behind.
Ryukawa Chiba, nicknamed "Doctor," always gave off an eerie feeling. The look in his eyes behind the lenses was like a serpent lurking in the jungle, sending shivers down one’s spine after prolonged staring.
For some reason, he was very interested in Xia Pingzhou, visiting the café daily to talk with him briefly.
Xia Pingzhou was curious whether Ryukawa Chiba, as a Psychic Ability User, could plant a mental imprint in others’ minds like Kong Youling and the Mentor.
But Ryukawa Chiba stated clearly that he could not do this. He could only see and sense others’ "emotions" and glean subtle memory fragments from them.
Xia Pingzhou knew that Ryukawa Chiba’s skills went far beyond this. According to online records, Ryukawa Chiba could manipulate emotions, driving people into madness under despair.
In his early days, Ryukawa Chiba caused a massive suicide incident at Waseda University, reportedly related to bullying, but Xia Pingzhou didn’t pursue it further.
Since the mental imprint couldn’t be removed, Ryukawa Chiba, as a Psychic Ability User, was of no use to him and seemed dangerous.
However, it was worth pondering that Ryukawa Chiba once casually mentioned during a chat that he couldn’t sense any emotions from Xia Pingzhou, as if looking at a puppet.
Xia Pingzhou wasn’t sure if this was true. But if it were, it would only mean that his emotions resided in the "real body," rendering Ryukawa Chiba’s superpower ineffective.
If it was false, Xia Pingzhou remained vigilant against Ryukawa Chiba, having already warned the Queen’s Statue that should Ryukawa Chiba attempt any mind control, the Empress would immediately leap from the chess library to execute him.
At this moment, in Tokyo’s sewer.
Man and statue walked side by side, the pitch-black passage silent enough to hear a pin drop. After turning a corner, Xia Pingzhou suddenly heard a deep, powerful roar that was definitely not human and not just one voice.
This indicated that at least two non-human creatures resided in the dark depths.
He raised his eyes, arched an eyebrow, and silently observed the two anomalies at the end of the passage.
One was half-human, half-bee, entirely covered with yellow fluff, with a pair of thin wings on its back, while the other was shrouded in black and blue sludge, vaguely human-like.
Light-Eating Bee? Xia Pingzhou thought. They’ve even come to Tokyo?
"What is that?" Xia Pingzhou stared at the Light-Eating Bee, knowingly asking, "A demon?"
The Queen’s Statue shook her head, raised a finger, and formed a line of text with cold flame:
"That’s not a demon."
Just then, Xia Pingzhou’s phone suddenly lit up. He lowered his gaze to the screen, seeing an AI-modeled boy in overalls pop out, earnestly explaining: This update ıs available on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵
"Uh... that thing doesn’t seem to be a demon. The general notified me earlier, saying that Japan recently saw a creature called the ’Light-Eating Bee’."