Chapter 269 - 265: Peculiar Speculation

Chapter 269: Chapter 265: Peculiar Speculation

For a moment, Matsuda Yumi forgot the horrifying memories of the night, ready to slip into lecture mode.

"You..."

"You saw that black shadow, didn’t you?"

Makino Xiangnai’s question cut Yumi off before she could speak.

Yumi’s eyes widened slightly as she stared at the girl in astonishment.

She had only told the police about the shadow. Even if they thought it was a hallucination, they wouldn’t go around publicizing details related to an active case.

In fact, Yumi had just started to convince herself it was a hallucination. But now that Makino Xiangnai had brought it up, goosebumps prickled her skin again.

"It was incredibly fast, right? And when you saw it, you were filled with this overwhelming, instinctual fear, weren’t you?"

Seeing the look on the older woman’s face, Makino Xiangnai smiled. But as she thought of the shadow, her own expression revealed a hint of dread, even lingering fear.

"Yumi, that black shadow has been at the TV station for over a month now..."

Makino Xiangnai lowered her voice and leaned in closer.

"We suspect that Demon escaped from some kind of seal. It knows nothing about modern human society, so it didn’t dare to make a move. It watched for over a month before it finally started killing!"

"Tonight was the first time that Demon killed someone!"

GLUG... GLUG...

It was less like Makino Xiangnai was drinking her beverage and more like she was using it to cover the sound of herself gulping.

With the sharp instincts of a journalist, Matsuda Yumi picked up on the word "we."

Although she was still skeptical about the existence of Demons, it didn’t cloud her judgment.

"Xiangnai, you just said ’we.’ Who else knows about this? And why haven’t you told the police?"

"Hah... the police..."

The girl’s expression was a contradictory mix of disdain and gravity.

"What good would they be? I even suspect there are Demons among the top ranks of the government!"

For some reason, those words sent a chill down Matsuda Yumi’s spine.

"Yumi, you work in the news, right? My dad says you’re the hardest-working and prettiest rookie at the station. You must have noticed some of the bizarre stories in the news lately—the ones that don’t add up. Like the mass poisoning of middle school students on the Osaka Plain, or that Shinkansen train that burst into flames..."

As the girl continued, Matsuda Yumi, who had been blushing slightly at the mention of her senior’s private praise, felt her scalp begin to crawl.

She had her own doubts about those stories and had even discussed them in private with friends.

In each of those major incidents, the government’s response was surprisingly swift. They immediately controlled the public narrative, and the speed at which they "found the cause" was unlike the local police. Then, public interest would fade away as if someone was deliberately influencing it.

Normally, what’s past is past, but you can’t just let it go when someone brings it up alongside new evidence.

"You see, Yumi? The government definitely knows what’s going on, but they haven’t warned the public in any way! Not a single warning!"

"There are two possibilities. First, they know what’s happening but have their own way of handling it, so they don’t want to cause a public panic."

"Yes, that’s probably it!"

Matsuda Yumi couldn’t help but agree. She was completely caught up in the girl’s rhythm, and deep down, she desperately wanted the first possibility to be true.

"Hah, so naive! And you’re supposed to be an adult!"

Makino Xiangnai’s smug look was infuriating, but it served to highlight the dramatic contrast of the moment.

"You’ve seen *Parasyte*, right, Yumi?"

Yumi froze. It was a hugely popular new anime from a few years back, so of course she’d seen it. She nodded instinctively.

"See? They also hid among humans, and they also ate people. How did the government in the show handle them?"

Scenes from the show flashed through her mind: using hair to identify the creatures, government raids to exterminate them, public warnings to be on guard.

"See the difference?"

The delusional teenager perfectly demonstrated what it meant to apply an anime worldview to real life. And shrouded in an atmosphere of fear, she was successfully getting Matsuda Yumi to see her point.

"So, we suspect there are Demons in the highest levels of government! They might even control a significant portion of the country’s apparatus!"

"We... are in grave danger!"

It was a chilling hypothesis. Yumi couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

"Yumi, we have to unite all the forces we can and protect ourselves in the shadows. Since we can’t rely on the government, we have to rely on ourselves—humans born with Spiritual Ability!"

"Spiritual Ability?"

Hearing Yumi ask the question so cooperatively, Makino Xiangnai finally had the chance to show off, something she’d clearly been itching to do.

She lightly gripped the mouth of the honey-citron tea bottle, which she had already drained.

RRRIP!

In one motion, she tore the thick plastic bottleneck open as if it were paper. Within seconds, she’d ripped the sturdy plastic into a dozen little pieces.

As Matsuda Yumi stared in shock, the girl dusted her hands off with a satisfied look.

"At school and in my dad’s eyes, I’m just a delicate first-year high school student. But in reality, I’m much stronger than a grown man. My body is incredibly durable, too. You’d have to put some real effort in to even scratch me with a utility knife."

"Plus, I get even stronger when I’m worked up. My sense of smell and hearing are also extremely sharp..."

"Mm-hmm. I can be doing homework on the second floor of my house and still hear the sounds of my poor single dad... relieving his stress on the first floor~"

She said it casually, with a mix of teasing and resignation.

This new information "shocked" Matsuda Yumi all over again. Whether it was due to the details about Xiangnai’s senses or the secret about her charming, mature senior—Xiangnai’s father—was anyone’s guess.

"Ahem, anyway, back to the point!"

The girl cleared her throat.

"By the way, could I have another honey-citron tea? I drank all the ones at my place."

"Of course, just a second!"

Yumi scrambled to her feet, hurried to the kitchen, and came back with the remaining three bottles from the refrigerator.

"Here, they’re all yours!"

"Thanks!"

Makino Xiangnai twisted one open, took a gulp, and continued her story.

"Three months ago, I was discussing a paranormal incident online and happened to meet my current partners. There are four of us, all Spiritual Power Users. Yeah, we came up with the name ourselves..."

"The strongest is a karate master—he’s amazing! We’ve dedicated ourselves to vanquishing evil and protecting the innocent, destroying any Demons we’re strong enough to face!"

As she said this, Makino Xiangnai’s eyes were practically sparkling.

"We’ve even killed a Demon already! It was in a small river in Hokkaido. We think it was a Kappa. It looked a lot different from the old drawings, but since all those so-called Exorcists are frauds anyway, it’s no surprise their drawings are inaccurate!"

"That Demon had already drowned several people. If we hadn’t stepped in, who knows how many more would have died!"

Matsuda Yumi’s mind was reeling, and she couldn’t share in the girl’s pride.

"Have you ever encountered a Demon you couldn’t handle? What about the one in the TV station’s parking garage?"

"Well... there probably aren’t that many Demons. Besides the weird cases in the news, the one at the TV station is only the second one we’ve encountered... Of course, it’s possible the government intervenes early and cleans up after some of them. We’ve sometimes stumbled upon special personnel handling the clean-up at a crime scene."

The girl gritted her teeth as she said this.

"That bunch of traitors, willingly doing the Demons’ bidding!"

She had completely discarded her own "hypothesis" from moments ago, unilaterally convicting the hardworking "Metropolitan Police Department for Special Incidents" of treason against humanity.

This kind of dramatic conclusion was possible for several reasons. First, the Japan government lacked credibility with the younger, more rebellious generation—the complete opposite of the situation in Hua Country. Second, there was a poor ability to judge information, communication barriers, and a lack of actual control over domestic affairs—again, a stark contrast to Hua Country’s current situation. And finally, the influence of certain anime worldviews bleeding into reality also played a part.

"All the Demons must have been sealed away in the past. They’ve only started reappearing in the last few years. It’s also possible a gateway to the Demon Realm has opened. We still need to investigate that. As for the Demon at the TV station..."

"We’ve been observing it for a while, but we haven’t dared to make a move..."

The girl sounded a little embarrassed as she said this.

"Just catching a glimpse of it from a distance twice was enough to make our skin crawl. It’s probably a Great Demon! We were trying to figure out how to deal with it, but we never thought it would make its move so soon!"

...

At East Great Capital Airport, three burly men in casual clothes emerged from the jet bridge. Even though it was December and quite cold, their thin shirts did little to hide their muscular physiques.

"Ah, we’re back~ The Association is finally going to re-establish the Sun Island branch~~"

"Hey, Hanato, I hear the girls here are really open. Is it true?"

A burly, blond-haired white man clapped a hand on the speaker’s shoulder.

"I’d forget about it if I were you. Try finding someone inside the Association first. You want to get somebody killed?" a second Asian man teased.

"Come on! Once I reach the Soul Burning Realm, I’ll have perfect control. I just need to keep working at it..."

A superhuman physique came with superhuman sensations. When it came to sex, they could experience pleasure far beyond normal even with an ordinary, delicate woman. The problem was, in such an excited state, it was easy to lose control of their strength.

And then... *BAM*. That’s why there were so many couples within the Knight Order. If you joined as a bachelor, well, sorry, but until you could achieve perfect, effortless control, you couldn’t even fuck a dog.

"Right, right, keep working at it." "Yeah, you do that."

These three were none other than the Japanese-American Hanato Doichi, the American Clooney, and the Chinese-American Zuo Zhongqiu, all from the Silent Knight Order.

This trip was a mission that Hanato Doichi had requested from the Knight Order’s high command. It had been approved by the Association, designating them as an advance team to Japan.

Aside from the thirty-odd freaks who founded the Silent Knight Order, these three were top-ranked figures among the reservists and also happened to be good friends.

PS: Second Chapter for Wednesday.