Ke Qirui pressed a finger to her chin, pondering silently for a moment. For some reason, a character popped into her mind.
When she arrived in Tokyo, inside the Train Demon’s carriage, she had discussed with Su Zimai about the recent appearance of that Superpower User in Li Jing - "Black Cocoon."
The two of them had seen a newspaper, and on it was a photo of a figure hanging upside down under a billboard, wrapped in bandage-like objects, looking almost like... a black mummy. That scene left a deep impression on Ke Qirui, and she even dreamed that rainy night about Black Cocoon hanging upside down under a streetlight, waving at her with a restraint belt.
"Could it be he’s talking about..."
She murmured, turning her head back to take a look.
In the entrance, the figure of Xia Pingzhou was no longer visible.
At the same time, in another corner of the Roppongi New District.
The Queen’s Statue held Ji Minghuan in its arms, racing through the high-rise buildings. Its body, forged of black iron, felt as light as paper under the night sky, reflecting the clear moonlight.
Every leap it made, it would bow forward in advance to tightly protect Ji Minghuan’s body.
Ji Minghuan’s hair was lifted high by the wind blowing over Tokyo, exposing his forehead.
His primary character "Gu Wenyu" had already arrived in Japan, had disembarked the plane, and was currently with Gu Zhuo and Gu Qiye, looking for their hotel.
Fortunately, father knew Japanese, and the eldest brother had some basic knowledge, around an N4 level, so they didn’t encounter any difficulties on the road, at least asking for directions was manageable.
"Turns out multitasking isn’t as difficult as I imagined." Ji Minghuan stared blankly at the brightly lit Tokyo Tower in the distance, thoughts swirling, "In a week, the auction heist will officially commence."
The relationships involved in this operation will be numerous, mostly people around my primary character, and the key point is, any of these people can easily take down Xia Pingzhou in a heartbeat. Thinking about this, Ji Minghuan let out a soft sigh.
Seemingly sensing his sadness, the Queen’s Statue glanced down at him, then continued forward under the moonlight.
"In order to make my secondary character appear less useless in front of the gang, I have to at least put on a good show. Seems like... I’ll have to see if I can find a worthy opponent at the auction, and then give them a good beating."
After sorting through those tough characters, Ji Minghuan really couldn’t think of who his secondary character could defeat at the auction, perhaps at most handling a few small fry.
Of course, with one exception: Su Zimai.
Since the auction is jointly hosted by the Japan Exorcist Association and several major Yakuza families, there’s no need to elaborate on Ke Qirui’s reasons for coming to Tokyo: she should be part of the auction’s security team.
As a member of the Ghost Train Corps, Su Zimai will surely be by her side.
"As her brother, educating a runaway sister shouldn’t be an issue either..." Ji Minghuan muttered to himself, nodding slightly, preparing himself for the righteous act of familial sacrifice: "My foolish little sister, you better get ready to face the consequences, because at the auction, I’m going to target you alone."
At this moment, Su Zimai, who was also in Tokyo City, sneezed.
Ke Qirui, puffing on a pipe, turned her head to glance at her.
"How could I catch a cold in the middle of summer?" Su Zimai frowned, fiddling with her phone as she rubbed her reddened nose, "Someone must be badmouthing me behind my back."
"I thought it was when someone thinks about you that you sneeze? Our Maimai is quite popular indeed."
Under the neon signs on Tokyo’s street, the two walked slowly, chatting and laughing. Passing by the red and yellow paper lanterns outside an izakaya, Ke Qirui looked ahead and suddenly mentioned, "By the way, isn’t that your family?"
"You..." Su Zimai was about to say, Captain, you don’t think this will trick me, do you?
But she suddenly remembered the message Gu Wenyu sent her, saying they were traveling to Japan, so she paused slightly, quickly raising her head from her phone, and saw three familiar figures coming around the street corner.
Su Zimai was dumbfounded, her jaw almost dropping in shock as she couldn’t help but exclaim softly:
"No way? Dad? ...Brother is here too?"
Only to see Gu Qiye, Gu Zhuo Case, and Gu Wenyu walking from the end of the street. One of them was looking down at the navigation while leading the way in front, one was smoking and gazing absentmindedly at the night scene of Tokyo’s street, and one was playing some dumb mobile game.
It’s over... completely over. Her eyelid twitched, how could it be so coincidental?
"I still have your brother’s contact info on my phone, can’t pretend I don’t know them." Ke Qirui spotted Gu Wenyu and smiled, "Do you want to go over and say hi?"
"Captain, are you nuts! If they find out I’m in Japan, I’m dead. My big brother will definitely nag me all summer break. If you want to go, go yourself!"
Su Zimai lowered her voice dramatically, speaking in haste, then like a small hamster, hid behind Ke Qirui, clutching her coat’s tail, secretly observing the gaze of Gu Qiye and the others.
Once she found the opportunity, she immediately darted to a nearby public phone booth.
With her back to the three of them, she pulled out her phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message to Gu Wenyu.
"Maimai, I think we’ve been spotted... even though it’s just me, being spotted." Ke Qirui put away her pipe, turned her head, and realized the girl had already hidden in the phone booth, she then gave a gentle, helpless smile.
Not far away, Ji Minghuan, controlling Gu Wenyu’s body, looked up at Ke Qirui: "Ah... isn’t that person..."
"Someone you know?" Gu Qiye asked, turning to glance at his brother.
"Yeah, someone I know. I didn’t expect to meet them in Japan... quite the coincidence."
After speaking, Ji Minghuan suddenly saw a WeChat message pop up on his phone.
[Su Zimai: Why are you here?]
[Gu Wenyu: Didn’t I tell you that Bro is taking us to Japan for a trip?]
[Su Zimai: I forgot to check.]
[Gu Wenyu: Who are you kidding, at that time, you even replied with "Buzz off," I remember clearly.]
[Su Zimai: Cover for me, help distract Dad and Brother!]
[Gu Wenyu: Not my problem.]
[Su Zimai: Hurry up!]
Ji Minghuan rolled his eyes, turned around, and stuffed his backpack to Gu Qiye, saying, "Bro, you go back to the hotel with Dad and put the stuff down. I’m hungry, so my friend and I will find something nearby to eat, I’ll call you later."
Gu Qiye said: "But you don’t have yen on you, and I haven’t set up your PayPal yet."
"My friend will treat us." Ji Minghuan pointed to Ke Qirui without looking back.
Following his gesture, Gu Qiye glanced distantly at Ke Qirui. The mixed-heritage girl’s demeanor and attire appeared quite elegant, her facial features sharp, seemingly not a bad person.
Gu Qiye hesitated for a moment, slung Ji Minghuan’s backpack over his shoulder, and then instructed, "After eating, head back to the hotel early. It’s already late, don’t loiter elsewhere, got it?"
"I know, I know," Ji Minghuan responded impatiently, closing his phone.
Beside him, Gu Zhuo Case said nothing, just quietly smoked and stared idly at the sights of Tokyo’s streets.
Ji Minghuan headed towards Ke Qirui.
Behind him, Gu Qiye and Gu Zhuo Case paused in place, watching his receding figure for a while, then picked up their suitcases and turned towards the hotel they booked.
Before leaving, Gu Qiye glanced, with the corner of his eye, once more at Ke Qirui’s profile.
But he still failed to notice Su Zimai, who remained hidden in the phone booth, always turned away from them.