009 I will die to show you.
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In the dimly lit room, the superior sat upright on the sofa, his fingers adorned with golden rings tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.
“Tap, tap, tap...”
The sound was steady and crisp, like the ticking of a countdown clock.
As the sunlight shifted with the passage of time, filtering through the broken window, casting shadows across his face, the tapping ceased accordingly.
The timing was complete.
“No need to wait any longer,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Zhang Yan willingly sacrificed himself to draw away the hyenas from the Authority Bureau, entrusting you with the vessel that contains his soul before he died.”
“His death was great, glorious, and noble. But it was also...”
“...the least important thing.”
The man rose, stepping closer to the three shadowy figures cowering on the floor like obedient stray dogs. “But why?”
“Who among you can tell me?”
“Why is there still one person missing?”
“Where has he gone?”
Trampling on the shadows beneath him, the man’s fury erupted like a roaring lion, sending chills deep into the souls of the timid.
“My lost vessel...”
“Where! Is! It!”
His roar distorted his handsome features into an expression of rage.
Yet, no one answered.
The three on the floor trembled like frightened mice at his outburst, lowering their heads in silence, their breaths barely audible.
“Very well.”
The man sat back down on the sofa.
“You were hastily chosen rejects to begin with. I never expected you to bring me any pleasure, only that you would not provoke my wrath.”
“But rejects are still rejects—your worthless lives owe their value to me, and yet your own base nature diminishes that value.”
“Even I, who believed you could succeed, have become degraded...”
Veins bulging on his hands, he crushed the wooden tabletop with fierce strength. “If not for the [Soul-Hunting Arrow] constantly tracking from above, I would have dealt with you long ago, but...”
He took a deep breath to calm himself, sighing as he looked at the trembling three. “Go. Find it.”
“Retrieve it.”
“This is the thorny burden you bear.”
Relieved they would not die immediately, the trio of little black shadows exhaled deeply. But the man’s next words plunged them into ice-cold despair.
“If you fail to find it...”
Closing his eyes, his voice heavy as lead, he said, “I will show you the true cruelty of the world of transcendent beings.”
...
Although reluctant to admit it, Mo Bai knew that trailing a young girl in secret without her awareness, following her all the way to her destination, was the behavior of a stalker.
Simply put: a pervert.
But Mo Bai also understood that just as one does not count as a client if one refuses to pay after the fact, stopping halfway through stalking means you are not really a stalker.
Aren’t there many such characters in anime? They follow the female lead for a long time, then step out with a crazed grin, surprising the protagonist with an “unexpected, right?”
A perfect cover for their stalking.
If caught, drown out the discovery with loud noises!
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Mo Bai followed Shen Qiqi into an abandoned tower—a floor left unfinished for various reasons, desolate and empty, with no one living there. It was hard to conceal his stalking there.
So he planned to get ahead of the situation and imitate the villain from anime, bursting out with a maniacal laugh.
But then...
“Ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke!!”
Shen Qiqi suddenly emitted a wildly deranged, piercing laugh that echoed ghostlike through the empty floor.
Inside the building, Mo Bai could hear all sorts of sounds.
As he was still shocked, pondering how she had devoured several Soul Hall elders, Shen Qiqi suddenly sprinted like nitrogen-fueled acceleration toward a corner, where a cardboard box lay.
“Ke ke ke ke ke, little kitty, what can you do now? Can you escape my grasp?”
“You can’t!”
“Mua! Mua!”
“Ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke!!”
“Kittens like you are born to be devoured by mommy!”
“Resistance is useless, ke ke ke ke ke...”
“Mua! Mua!”
Watching Shen Qiqi wildly kissing the belly of a tabby cat, Mo Bai raised his head in shock, glancing again at her attributes.
When he saw the purple [Cat Slave] trait, the scene suddenly made sense.
This was no surprise.
So he quietly took out his phone and began recording.
“Click.”
An abnormal sound, one that shouldn’t have reached his ears, stopped Shen Qiqi’s excessively perverse cat-loving antics.
Half-lifting the cat, she stared blankly at Mo Bai behind her, the flash from his phone camera shining brightly.
“Yo, hello there.”
“The magical girl who ran away from my home.”
Mo Bai smiled, waving the phone gently.
“Ah!!!” Shen Qiqi panicked, raising the cat to shield her face. “No filming! You’re not allowed to film!!”
“Delete it! Delete it now!”
Being caught acting crazy over a cute cat was, to a girl, akin to running naked through the street; flushed with deep embarrassment, her face was scarlet red.
“Relax, I’ll blur your face. It’d be a shame not to post this hilarious footage in the meme zone. How about we split the profits seventy-thirty?”
Calmly pocketing the phone, Mo Bai stepped in front of Shen Qiqi, picked up the overly composed tabby cat, and reached out to pet it. “Let’s have a chat.”
“About magical girls and monsters.”
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That shadow monster who trespassed into his home yesterday needed some answers from Shen Qiqi.
Once there’s a first time, there’s bound to be a second, third, fourth...
His home was no public restroom for monsters to come and go as they pleased.
He’d bury them all in potato mines.
“I have nothing to talk to you about,” Shen Qiqi said firmly. “I am a magical girl, a righteous ally, constantly fighting evil monsters to protect this city.”
“All I can tell you is this.”
“Don’t come near me anymore, or you’ll only bring misfortune.”
Mo Bai frowned. “But I was attacked by a monster last night.”
“Ah?”
She blurted out, “You’re not dead?!”
Mo Bai: “?”
Why would a righteous ally wish someone dead?
“Of course, I’m alive and well.”
“Then you have even more reason to stay away from me!” Shen Qiqi stamped her foot anxiously. “Monsters have their eyes on you, and there will be more to come. You’d better cut all ties with me...”
Mo Bai: “...”
Seeing this self-righteous high school girl refuse to talk seriously, Mo Bai sighed and pulled a fruit knife from his pocket.
“Pause for a moment. Let me ask you—you're a righteous ally, right?”
“You protect the safety of ordinary citizens, right?”
Shen Qiqi blinked in confusion. “Yes.”
“Look at this—this is a photo of my little sister. She’s very cute, isn’t she?”
Looking at the picture of a white-haired girl clutching a shark pillow asleep, Shen Qiqi nodded, even more bewildered. “Indeed, very cute.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Mo Bai took a deep breath. “Listen carefully. My name is Mo Bai, 21 years old, living in the northwest villa district of Shimokitazawa. Unmarried. I work in a maid café. Before bed, I drink a glass of warm water, watch anime for two hours, then sleep until midnight. I always leave my fatigue and stress for the next day. Doctors say I’m abnormal.”
“My mother went to sea as a pirate and never returned. My father died in childbirth. I raised my adorable little sister by myself, nurturing her into a perfectly reasonable brother complex.”
Shen Qiqi was stunned. “What on earth are you talking about?!”
Mo Bai spoke deliberately: “I am, without a doubt, a kind and ordinary citizen, working honestly and taking good care of my sister.”
“Your justice, the one you want to protect, is people like me.”
“If I die, my little sister will be devastated, and terrible things will happen. So...”
In front of Shen Qiqi, Mo Bai pressed the fruit knife against his temple. “If you keep yammering without saying anything useful...”
“I’ll just show you by dying right here!”
Faced with this scene, Shen Qiqi’s mind completely short-circuited: “Eh?”
“Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh!?”